SAW V NOW AVAILABLE

Here is the summary for the movie Saw V from imdb

Forensics expert Hoffman goes on the hunt in order to protect the secret that he is the newest person to carry on Jigsaw's legacy.

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There's a certain part of me that's envious of the average "Saw" fan. I truly wish I could appreciate this horror franchise on a more visceral level, screaming along with the rest of the crowd as mayhem arrives, lives are ended, and Jigsaw's legacy is twisted further into a mind-bending puzzle only the most patient out there have kept up with. It's criminal that I refuse entrance into the club, but, then again, when I view a "Saw" movie all I can see are bargain-basement production values, abysmal acting, and a soggy narrative that's spun completely out of control. The only elements holding the franchise together at this point are the blind enthusiasm of horror nuts, truckloads of distraction, and the forgiving nature of the Halloween season.

Detective Mark Hoffman (Costas Mandylor) is being prepped for hero status after his takedown of Jigsaw (Tobin Bell), thus ending the string of crude murders that plagued the city. The only person alive to challenge Hoffman is Agent Strahm (Scott Patterson), who barely survived a Jigsaw trap and is now ready to uncover the truth behind Hoffman's clandestine activities. Chasing the clues, Strahm gets closer to the horrors of Jigsaw's legacy, while Hoffman ventures back into his own past and the events that introduced his evil ways.

Not to rock the boat here, but I consider last year's "Saw IV" to be the finest installment of the series so far, contorting itself hilariously into a shell game of a motion picture, perhaps best titled "Saw 3.5" for comfort. With a genuine actor (Patterson) slapping the film awake and director Darren Lynn Bousman taking a few minor chances with the plot, "Saw IV" was garbage, but not a hideous proposition quite like the other volumes of this rancid franchise. For "Saw V," Bousman is off to directorial purgatory, replaced by series production design vet David Hackl, who sticks uncomfortably close to the "If it ain't broke..." motto during his face time with Jigsaw.

It's actually somewhat startling to watch "Saw V" behave more like a dopey detective story than the hardcore horror extravaganza fans have come to expect. Either the mythos of Jigsaw is becoming too complicated to shoehorn in some gore sequences or perhaps the producers are finally growing weary of repeating themselves with increasingly ridiculous torture devices. Either way, "Saw V" is a sedate feature film, spending more screentime tracking Hoffman's footsteps with Strahm than snuggling up to bloody entrails. The change is refreshing, as is the loss of Bousman, but the restraint only lasts for a few breaths. After all, there's a legacy of blood to protect here.

A sophisticated Jigsaw trap subplot weaves throughout "Saw V," returning to the "Saw II" aesthetic of strangers (including Meagan Good and Julie Benz) duking it out for precious remnants of life. How it ties to the rest of the story is spoiler territory, but it's clear imagination is running low for the death set-pieces, with explosions and low-light executions replacing the splatterfest that once was.

"Saw V" feels like a transitory piece to clear a way for next year's "Saw VI." Hackl chucks in plenty of inexplicable material ready to be explored a year from now, teasing the audience with characters and props that feed the haphazardly constructed arc being assembled by the producers, who resort to time travel once again to pad out the running time to 85 minutes. Not only is "Saw" losing its taste for blood, it can't stay in the present, leaping back and forth through the sequels to shake the audience off the narrative's trail. A trail, mind you, that doesn't actually lead anywhere in "Saw V" except to absurd backstory and the chance to spend more time with Bell as Jigsaw (pass).

"You won't believe how it ends" is the official tagline for "Saw V," but the real question is, will you care? Admirers will undoubtedly fling themselves at the feet of anything the producers dream up, but more careful viewers might be starting to question the validity of this ongoing story: a five-film-too-long journey that has never felt more arbitrarily plotted than in the final 10 minutes of "Saw V."

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WWE SUMMERSLAM III 1990 NOW AVAILABLE

Here is the summary for WWF Summerslam III 1990 from IMDB.

WWF Title (Cage Match) The Ultimate Warrior vs. Rick Rude, WWF Intercontinental Title: Mr. Perfect vs. The Texas Tornado, WWF Tag Team Titles (2 out of 3 Falls) Demolition vs. The Hart Foundation, Hulk Hogan vs. Earthquake, Randy Savage vs. Dusty Rhodes, Jake Roberts vs. Bad News Brown, Power & Glory vs. The Rockers, The Warlord vs. Tito Santana, The Orient Express vs. Nikolai Volkoff & Jim Duggan, Written by Anonymous

Here is a review of WWF Summerslam III 1990 from TvRage.com

Power and Glory (Hercules and Paul Roma) defeated The Rockers (Shawn Michaels and Marty Jannetty) (6:00) by Countout....Intercontinental Heavyweight Title Match: Kerry Von Erich pinned Mr. Perfect (5:15) to win the Intercontinental Title....Sherri Martel defeated Sapphire by forfeit....Warlord pinned Tito Santana (5:28)....World Tag Team Title Match (Best 2 out of 3 Falls): The Hart Foundation (Bret Hart and Jim Neidhart) defeated Demolition Smash and Crush to win the titles. Crush pinned Hart (6:09). Demolition was Disqualified (10:06). Hart pinned Crush (14:24)....Jake Roberts beat Bad News Brown (4:44) by Disqualification....Jim Duggan and Nikolai Volkoff defeated The Orient Express (Sato and Tanaka) (3:22) when Duggan pinned Tanaka....Randy Savage pinned Dusty Rhodes (2:15)....Hulk Hogan beat Earthquake (13:16) by countout....World Heavyweight Title Match (Steel Cage Match): Ultimate Warrior defeated Rick Rude (10:05) in a "steel cage" match to retain the title.

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MY BEST FRIEND'S GIRL NOW AVAILABLE

Here is the summary for the movie My Best Friend's Girl from imdb

Tank (Dane Cook) is put to the ultimate friendship test when his best friend Dustin (Jason Biggs) hires him to take his ex-girlfriend Alexis (Kate Hudson) on a lousy date just to show her how great her former boyfriend is. When Alexis finds Tank more fascinating she decides that she wants Tank, and wants to take him to a wedding instead of Dustin. Dustin tries to become more like Tank in an attempt to get Alexis back. In the meantime, Tank is trying to make Alexis like Dustin again, but Dustin is trying to mess up the wedding and ruin Tank's and Alexis's relationship at the same time.

Here is a review for the movie My Best Friend's Girl from dvdtalk


The more Dane Cook craves leading man status and comedy credibility, the more it eludes him.

"My Best Friend's Girl" is Cook's third attempt to turn himself into box office gold, and he's wised up for this effort, luring Kate Hudson and her fan base into the fold for this round of slapstick. However, there could be a supporting turn from Will Smith, gas gift cards under every theater seat, and certified proof who killed JFK revealed only after the end credits and it still wouldn't salvage Cook's remarkable ability to select the worst possible starring vehicles for himself. "Girl" is just another step in the multiplex mangling of Cook's once proud name.

Dustin (Jason Biggs) is a lovesick stooge who pines daily for his ex-girlfriend, Alexis (Kate Hudson). Hoping to win her back, Dustin asks loutish friend Tank (Dane Cook) to take Alexis out on a hideous date to show her how good she had it when she spent time with a nice guy. The plan immediately backfires when Alexis becomes involved with Tank, sending Dustin into a tailspin where he reconsiders his polite attitude towards women. Now stuck with a girlfriend, Tank finds he's falling in love with Alexis, a perfect contradiction to his professional lothario ways. As the two try to preserve a relationship, Dustin grows increasingly disgusted, leading Tank to reconsider his errant ways.

It just isn't enough for Dane Cook to make lousy comedies ("Employee of the Month," "Good Luck Chuck"), the man now has his own formula for failure. The screenplay by Jordan Cahan is programmed to follow the basic Cook rules: introduce obnoxious bastard, challenge obnoxious bastard, and have obnoxious bastard redeemed. It's a template followed to the letter in "Girl," a terrifically awful comedy that doesn't even desire to be funny after introductions are made. The picture depends completely on Cook's whiplash way with a punchline, and if that's the only thing propping up the jokes, the audience might as well pack up and head back home after the opening titles.

Controversial statement coming: Cook can be hilarious. There, I said it. I'm simply mystified with his big screen acting selections. "Girl" is an unimaginative, careless romantic comedy that prides itself on vulgarity and sincerity, mixing the qualities to putrid results. Cook made up his mind long ago that he wants to be taken seriously as a leading man. "Girl" is a sort of predictable malarkey that kills careers; it's a calculated attempt to woo the men with genital-based humor and tickle women with some romantic jousting. The formula has worked before, but Cahan's script is a simpleminded effort perfect for anyone who's never actually seen a movie before, and who does the production rope in to direct? Howard Deutch, the mastermind behind "Grumpier Old Men," "The Odd Couple II," and "The Whole Ten Yards." Why not let Cook helm this junk himself?

There's really not much to say about "Girl" outside of the basics: it's an outrageously unfunny picture, the sex jokes reek of a fifth-grader script polish, the romantic beats have been photocopied from other screenplays, and the production brought in Jason Biggs to score extra laughs. I think just including the name "Jason Biggs" and the word "comedy" in the same sentence makes this review illegal in 17 states. He's awful, Hudson is bored trying to decode a brazenly one-note character, co-star Lizzy Caplan is somewhere in orbit doing her best Andrew Dice Clay impression, Alec Baldwin (as Tank's revolting father) is making an alimony payment, and Cook finds himself hilarious when he's actually quite the opposite in a very vivid manner.

When "My Best Friend's Girl" stops the laughs completely to sort out the emotional shards left behind by Tank's destructive mission, it comes off like an elaborate prank played on a viewer to watch the movie take itself so seriously, as though an earlier scene of Tank simulating cunninglingus with a piece of dinner-special fish never even existed. I'm supposed to care about these characters now? If Cook wants to make a comedy, he should just make a goddamn comedy. Injecting sickening artificial sentiment into everything he does only hastens his eventual cowboy ride into cultural obscurity, it doesn't prevent it.

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PRIDE AND GLORY NOW AVAILABLE

Here is the Summary for the movie Pride and Glory from imdb

A saga centered on a multi-generational family of New York City Police officers. The family's moral codes are tested when Ray Tierney, investigates a case that reveals an incendiary police corruption scandal involving his own brother-in-law. For Ray, the truth is revelatory, a Pandora's Box that threatens to upend not only the Tierney legacy but the entire NYPD.

Here is a review for the movie Pride and Glory from dvdtalk

"Pride and Glory" is undeniably routine, wading into murky New York police drama waters with little hesitation. However, it takes only a minute to shake off the convention and welcome what director Gavin O'Conner is constructing here: a pummeling story of corruption and relations, spread across the battlefield of the unforgiving city. "Glory" is a marvelous installment of the psychologically tortured cop genre, and whatever it lacks in innovation it makes up in emotionally searing, superbly smashmouth execution.

When four New York City police officers are found dead in an apartment with criminal ties, a task force is assembled to catch the killers. Leading the charge with some reluctance is Ray Tierney (Edward Norton), a timid cop brought back into fold of the homicide squad to join his father Francis Sr. (Jon Voight), brother Francis Jr. (Noah Emmerich), and brother-in-law Jimmy (Colin Farrell). Gathering clues, Ray tugs at a string of corruption running through the department, a string tied to Jimmy and his elaborate schemes to cover his crooked path. Once the investigation starts to unravel the force, it places Ray in a difficult position, compelled to choose between the tolerant police code of his family and the demands of justice.

Shot splendidly with crisp winter bite by cinematographer Declan Quinn, "Pride and Glory" sends the viewer into the jaws of the city, where the battle between cops and robbers is a messy pursuit, often pushing the patience of the law to unfortunate ends. O'Connor uses the bitter streets as a chess board for this sprawling family story, mixing the irritability of domestic troubles with a developing sense of procedural misery as Ray inches closer to a suspect he can't bring himself to arrest. "Glory" is one of those massive Shakespearian clashes between aggressive relatives burning through long-held feuds, yet O'Connor doesn't indulge in the hysteria of the moment; instead, he prefers to observe growing, unavoidable despair.

Gathering a group of hot-blooded Irish cops to play around with the topic of corruption doesn't slow down O'Connor's imagination. The director appreciates the formula and spends two hours trying to subvert expectations with impressively composed character interaction and harrowing scenes of emotional fragility. "Glory" is about the cops, not the crimes, and how they cope with themselves when they've accepted their compromise of honor. Everyone has their cross to bear, and O'Conner maintains the boiling points masterfully: Ray is weary, lonely, and persistent with his investigation; Francis Jr. has worked hard to reach a level of authority, only to see his force succumb to the temptations of crime, not to mention nursing a wife (Jennifer Ehle, in a ghostly, heartbreaking performance) stricken with cancer; Francis Sr. watches helplessly as his sons walk away from the league of cops he romanticized (a boozed-soaked holiday scene with the character admiring his family is the film's finest moment); and Jimmy is the desperate outsider, building a future for his family on dangerous ground, soon consumed with paranoia as suspicion falls on his men.

Winding through a series of harrowing turns in the investigation, horrific scenes of interrogation, and the psychological torment inflicted on the accused, "Glory" works itself up into a suffocating lather. O'Connor works hard to construct a tight web of police lingo and tough guy posturing; if your antennae are tuned to this sort of cinema, "Glory" is a superlative demonstration of a brotherhood-of-the-badge stranglehold, rooting itself in outstanding character composition to alleviate the worry of cliché. It's a wonderfully compelling drama, bruised to near-perfection.

O'Connor gives himself over to frenzy for the final act, and the slip in judgment dents the film's overall impact. In keeping matters intimate, "Glory" is able to pass off impressive composure which bleeds into sharp flashes of violence. Once the action hits an unsteady, frantic level of streetwise panic, the picture loses layers of authenticity in its pursuit of a blockbuster closure. O'Connor finds a few knuckle-sandwich surprises within a deflating final reel, and it's enough to work the lapse in judgment down. It's a small piece of unnecessary indulgence in an otherwise exceptional, thick-skinned cop drama.

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SEX DRIVE NOW AVAILABLE

Here is the summary for the movie Sex Drive from imdb

Eighteen-year-old Ian Lafferty sets out on a cross country drive with his best friends Lance and Felicia in order to lose his virginity to a red-hot babe he met on the Internet. But the journey, filled with hilarious misadventures and raunchy escapades, teaches all three more than they expected about life and love. Randy, raucous and unexpectedly romantic, Sex Drive follows three friends on the road trip of a lifetime! Ian Lafferty (Josh Zuckerman) can't seem to catch a break. He's taunted by his cocksure older brother Rex (James Marsden), shown up in the romance department by his 14-year-old younger brother and humiliated by his job at a mall donut shop. But Ian's biggest problem is that he's about to start college as a virgin! Getting nowhere with the girl of his dreams and longtime best friend Felicia (Amanda Crew), Ian resorts to the Internet for dates. He soon hooks up with Ms. Tasty, a flaming hot blonde who can't wait to get busy. The only catch: Ian has to drive 500 miles from Chicago to Knoxville to consummate the deal. Egged on by his devil-may-care pal Lance (Clark Duke), Ian risks life and limb by appropriating The Judge, Rex's prized vintage Pontiac GTO. With Lance and Felicia in tow, he hits the road for a one-time rendezvous that will rock his world! Car trouble, a stint in the pokey, a buggy tow with an Amish farmer (Seth Green) and an afternoon at a roadside carnival all complicate Ian's journey. As he presses on to get to Knoxville before Ms. Tasty gives up and goes home, the trio's trail of mayhem closes in on them with hilarious consequences. Will Rex find Ian before he reaches Nirvana? Will a cuckolded husband exact revenge on Lance just as he seems to have found true love? Will Ms. Tasty live up to her Internet profile? Will Ian realize what he really wants? And most importantly, Will Ian, Felicia and Lance survive the bumpy road to adulthood with all its unexpected twists and turns?

Here is a review for the movie Sex Drive from dvdtalk

The curse of "American Pie" strikes again with "Sex Drive," a dreary teen comedy that attempts to pass off an endless series of bodily function jokes as a screenplay. It's dated, humorless, and miscast all around, not to mention homophobic, ineptly written, and on top of all that holds great disdain for its characters. It's the latest in a long string of teen sex comedies where the audience just might find themselves rooting for the STDs.

Ian (Josh Zuckerman) is a high school loser, unable to lose his virginity while watching his slovenly friend Lance (Clark Duke, officially the 10,000th young ironic hipster actor working today) nail all the ladies. Meeting a willing girl online, Ian finds his chance to reach out to the opposite sex, electing to steal his bullying brother's (James Marsden) vintage car and travel with Lance and crush Felicia (Amanda Crew) across a few states to reach his destiny. Hitting the road, everything that could possibly go wrong in fact does go wrong, leading the trio on a Midwestern adventure interacting with sarcastic Amish folk (Seth Green), interstate street racers, and jealous rednecks.

Yes, "Sex Drive" uncomfortably mirrors the 1985 Rob Reiner film "The Sure Thing." It's a rather unabashed lift, but even comparing Reiner's mischievous film to bottom-feeding malarkey like "Drive" is insulting. "Drive" is a teen comedy on auto-pilot; it's a paint-by-numbers directorial effort from Sean Anders, who cobbles together bits of Hughes, Reiner, and a whole lotta Weisz to fashion an unimaginative decent into the fears and urges of a young man's virginal soul.

Truthfully, there's not a moment here the audience hasn't seen before in bawdier, better films. "Drive" is lazy with its naughty bits, going for shock value over careful orchestrations of humiliation, and blunt obscenity over generous writing. Glory hole encounters? Radiator-cooling urination? Embarrassing semen messes? Anders can be as lascivious as he likes, but at least be funny with this parade of clichés. "Drive" is the type of film that doesn't just allow exposed elderly testicles to creep out the room, there must be an extreme close-up of said testicles as well. That aesthetic consumes the direction, robbing the picture of any mischief. Subtlety is not an Anders specialty.

With the film in constant pursuit of bathroom humor to exploit, the cast is left to carry most of the "heart" Anders and co-writer John Morris lazily write their way toward. It isn't enough to call the "Drive" screenplay predictable: it's a veritable photocopy of previous teen hits. The romantic dynamic between Ian, Felicia, and Lance is as contrived as can be, only half-heartedly sold in the finished film with a few googly eyes, some trendy emo rock (Fall Out Boy cameos), and a bizarre bonding point (a rural "shoe" tree) to make the loving connections and, more accurately, the contractual page count.

Also of mild annoyance are the references peppered throughout the film. A few ("Top Gun," Steve McQueen) that feel mighty false in a world of characters born in 1991.

Surely if "Drive" had better actors, the results might've been less plastic. With Zuckerman doing his "everyteen" Hollywood casting call impression, Crew unenthusiastically trying to communicate adoration for these nitwit men her character has to choose from (guess which one she picks), and Duke merging irksome Stifler one-liners, loathsome Rainn Wilson deadpan, and unintentionally hilarious Carol Brady hair into the least believable playboy the screen has witnessed since McLovin, "Drive" is drained of its last hope for imagination.

It's the mission of "Sex Drive" to be juvenile, stupid, and relentlessly horny, and there's nothing explicitly wrong with that. However, we live in a world with a thousand films just like it. "Sex Drive" is monotonous genre leftovers, a lethargic film coasting on the triumphs of previous horndog celebrations, without any distinctive personality to separate the wheat from the chaff.

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SOUL MEN NOW AVAILABLE

Here is the summary for the movie Soul Men from Imdb

Two former backup soul singers, Louis (Samuel L. Jackson) and Floyd (Bernie Mac) who have not spoken to each other in 20 years reluctantly agree to travel across the country together to a reunion concert to honor their recently deceased lead singer (John Legend). Cleo (Sharon Leal), a beautiful young woman who is believed to be Floyd's daughter, accompanies them as a new singer.

Here is a review for the movie Soul Men from dvdtalk

While not his last feature film, the late Bernie Mac is served well by the comedy "Soul Men," putting in a feral performance that brings out the old Mac we all fell in love with long ago. It's a shame the movie can't live up to his spirit, trading comedic momentum for a story nobody is going to care about. Still, the laughs are plentiful for 45 minutes, and that's all this movie needs to please.

As 1970's R&B sensation The Real Deal, Louis (Samuel L. Jackson) and Floyd (Bernie Mac) ruled the radio backing up star Marcus Hooks with their velvety vocals. Decades later, Floyd is retiring and Louis is trying to keep out of prison, with both men still nursing resentment over their awful breakup. When Hooks dies, a memorial concert is booked, with a request for the The Real Deal to reunite and perform. Sensing an opportunity to relive their glory years, the cranky old men agree to team up, crossing the country by automobile to make a date at the Apollo Theater. Along the way, Floyd and Louis find themselves reconnecting through the music and stage moves of yesteryear, soon encountering a possible daughter in Cleo (Sharon Leo), the love child of a former group member.

Director Malcolm D. Lee is perhaps best known as Spike Lee's cousin, only the more serious statements of race and world relations elude his touch. This Lee loves his slapstick, and "Soul Men" is an amusing offering of the silly stuff, using the ample gifts of the leading men to land some big smiles.

It should come as no surprise that Mac and Jackson work beautifully together. With both actors skilled at extracting laughs and firing rounds of profanity in increasingly inspired ways, the duo makes "Soul Men" a welcome prospect. Just how much chemistry they share is the real surprise of the film. Playing round after round of verbal tennis, Mac and Jackson form a believable bond without help from the bland screenplay, using Lee's patience with screen mischief to get to the core of partnership that makes up the heart of the feature. After years of Cosby domestication, the old Bernie Mac erupts in "Soul Men," showcasing the actor back to his old wild-eyed, forked tongue self. Jackson matches Mac well, embracing his own soul-patched brand of contempt and bravado, which bounces well off Mac's sensitive insanity. Even better, the two actors don't embarrass themselves onstage, busting out some smooth Temptations-inspired moves and tentative vocals that maintain the illusion of a once mighty music industry force.

With Lee allowing "Soul Men" to chase bawdy antics for the boys, especially the Viagra-chomping Floyd and his string of sexual partners (including Jennifer Coolidge and, of all people, Vanessa del Rio), the mindlessness of the film is hospitable, broadly playing up road trip setbacks and brotherly communication problems between Floyd and Louis. It's only a matter of time before Lee shoehorns a story into the film, using a question mark of paternity, medication misdirection, and pursuit by Cleo's thug boyfriend to embellish what should rightfully be a wafer-thin comedy. The new weight of contrivance is deadly to the film's essence, stopping the laughs for excess characterization that isn't welcome. Had the writing worked into edgier, smarter terrain over formulaic dribble, perhaps the journey of The Real Deal might've been something to cheer for.

"Soul Men" treats the music genre with respect, and a nice cameo from Isaac Hayes lends the proceedings a jolt of royalty, even if the aftertaste is a bit ghoulish (a scene with Mac trapped in a coffin is equally uncomfortable). This is a funny picture, just not a consistent one, starting Bernie Mac's good-bye tour on a delightfully rowdy note, while reminding the viewer that as hilarious a man as he was, Mac had lousy taste in screenplays.

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CITY OF EMBER NOW AVAILABLE

Here is the summary for the movie City of Ember from imdb

For generations, the people of the City of Ember have flourished in an amazing world of glittering lights. But Ember's once powerful generator is failing ... and the great lamps that illuminate the city are starting to flicker. Now, two teenagers in a race against time, must search Ember for clues that will unlock the ancient mystery of the city's existence, and help the citizens escape before the lights go out forever. Written by Fox Walden

Here is a review for the movie City of Ember from dvdtalk

"City of Ember" is a sci-fi fantasy film with forbidding apocalyptic overtones, extravagant set design, and an edge that mixes high-flying questing with significant ecological worry. It's a film Terry Gilliam used to make before his artistic abilities flatlined: a striking adventure for families that dares to challenge the senses with atmosphere that isn't always sunny, backstory that isn't neatly cubed for mass consumption, and youthful performances that attain dramatic weight. Even housed in an imperfect cut, "City of Ember" is one of the best family films of the year.

While the world neared the end of days, the nameless Builders took humanity underground, erecting the city of Ember: a community powered by a massive hydro-electric generator and ruled by a series of mayors (Bill Murray, in dramatic mode). Now over 200 years old, Ember is falling apart with generator malfunctions that leave the citizens in the dark for frightening stretches of the day. Trying to fit into their newfound professional roles in Ember, teens Lina (Saoirse Ronan, "Atonement") and Doon (Harry Treadaway, "Brothers of the Head") submit themselves to the numbing grind of the city, only to come across an escape plan left behind by the Builders. Racing against the clock, Lina and Doon attempt to decipher the written code before Ember self-destructs, stumbling upon a great deal of governmental corruption they can barely believe.

Adapted from the popular novel by Jeanne Duprau, "City of Ember" is a terribly condensed motion picture. A natural flow of story is absent from the movie, as director Gil Kenan (the charming "Monster House") and screenwriter Caroline Thompson try to maintain a ripping pace to Lina and Doon's underground discoveries. The price for this brevity is a loss of epic scope, reducing "Ember" to breathless exposition without the desired time to sit down and take inventory of characters, motivations, and this incredible world. While I haven't read the Duprau book, the film appears pared down from a longer, more patient cut, especially around any plot details that dwell on the adults of Ember (including Tim Robbins, Martin Landau, and Mary Kay Place).

Narrative shortcomings aside, "Ember" packs quite a visual punch, courtesy of Kenan and his gifted crew. Shunning a potential torrent of special effects, the actual city of Ember is built on stages, giving the screen beautiful scale and an impression of reality that's crucial to embracing a grave movie like this. It's a colossal production, and the effort exposed in the Gilliamesque (or perhaps Jeunet and Caro) details is remarkable, with terrific rusted and soiled landmarks, along with the weathered, knitted look of the Ember inhabitants. Kenan masterminds a real world for the audience to invest in, and "Ember" is simply gorgeous to behold, if you like your kid movies with a little more bruising than normal.

The second half of "Ember" is pure action mode, following Lina and Doon as they make a break for the outside world. After a period of expositional bondage, the film takes off like a rocket as our heroes climb all over Ember's hidden passages, board a potentially life-threatening flume ride, and search the tattered map for the secrets their cryptic ancestors waited an eternity to reveal (shades of "The Goonies"). Obviously, with the heart pumping and Kenan permitted to embrace more fanciful visuals, "Ember" starts to come into its own.

Without spoiling anything, "Ember" closes on a wonderfully poetic note, unusual for a family film and positively foreign to me after last week's reprehensible "Beverly Hills Chihuahua." Offering a powerful metaphorical presentation of life under environmental pressure, superlative performances from the cast (Ronan is a gifted actress), and visual gymnastics that return a sense of awe to the movie theater, "City of Ember" might be short on narrative depth, but it's long on satisfaction.

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HIGH SCHOOL MUSICAL 3 NOW AVAILABLE

Here is the summary for the movie High School Musical 3 from imdb

As seniors in high school ,Troy and Gabriella struggle with the idea of being separated from one another as college approaches. Along with the rest of the Wildcats, they stage a spring musical to address their experiences, hopes and fears about their future.

Here is a review for the movie High School Musical 3 from dvdtalk

Presenting a movie like "High School Musical 3: Senior Year" to film critics is a bizarre situation. Let's be real here: nobody who wants to see the feature will care what other people think about it, and most strangers to the "HSM" franchise wouldn't be caught dead watching it. It's an either ya do or ya don't proposition.

It's the senior year for the East High Wildcats, and futures beyond high school hallways and lunchroom gossip are being planned. For Troy (Zac Efron), Gabriella (Vanessa Hudgens), and Chad (Corbin Bleu), the road to adulthood is complicated, involving painful choices in both life and love. With the year winding down, Gabriella encourages everyone to sign up for the spring musical, putting the kibosh on brat Sharpay's (Ashley Tisdale) plans to topline her own show, with supplementary help from brother Ryan (Lucas Grabeel). With the days ticking away to graduation, the group works out the moves for the big show, while Troy and Gabriella contemplate the concept of college careers away from each other.

I only recently came into the "HSM" franchise, and, believe me, it was kicking and screaming. However, what I discovered under the toxic Disney marketing blitz was an exquisitely candied, wholesome series of dance movies, reinforced with exceptional choreography and performances marked by thousand-mile-wide smiles and nimble footwork. The first two Disney Channel "HSM" installments were earnest and cheery, qualities that matched their small screen origin wonderfully. It's the multiplex for "HSM" this time out, for financial and sentimental reasons that make perfect sense. It's a pleasure to report that "Senior Year" is a lovely send off for the original cast of the series, giving the core audience exactly what they crave from an "HSM" film, only now director/choreographer Kenny Ortega has a few more bucks to spend indulging his glittery imagination.

The upgrades to "Senior Year" are felt immediately, with more intricate lighting schemes around East High and on the stage, sophisticated production numbers for the cast to tumble around in, and the introduction of three new cast members to take over for the inevitable "HSM 4." It feels a tad underhanded to pipe in new characters within a film created solely to say good-bye to audience favorites, but that's how Disney business struts, baby. It's a shame the new Wildcats, Tiara Gold (Jemma McKenzie-Brown), Jimmie Zara (Matt Prokop), and Donny Dion (Justin Martin), are exceptionally uncharismatic clones, leaving their scenes a slow death in an otherwise peppy film.

Beyond the new faces, "Senior Year" plays like an amplified version of the previous "HSM" films. The songs, while remaining frightfully glossy and generic, reach out a little further to express romantic sentiments and troubled thoughts. The dancing is plunged into with a generous hunger (the Efron/Bleu junkyard sequence for "The Boys Are Back" is a real triumph); Ortega channeling the gods of Berkeley, Fosse, and Kelly to construct intricate foot parades for the camera, with special emphasis on theatrical scenery to reinforce the high school musical atmosphere of "High School Musical" (something that was woefully missing from "HSM 2").

The cast also seems to have their batteries charged to capacity, especially Efron (he of greasy hair and bulging muscles) and Hudgens (she of inviting smiles and virginal hypnosis), who return to the forefront of this final installment with a syrupy relationship arc that puts pressure on the Troy/Gabriella pairing. To college or not to college isn't a fresh pathway for drama, but "Senior Year" gets surprising mileage out of the difficult choices that face our heroes. It's a thoughtful way to break up the hyperactive dancing, even if it isn't challenged beyond the norm.

Ortega is wise to lead "Senior Year" down familiar roads for the fanatics, showcasing enough electric showmanship, shirtless Efron, and tearful farewells to supply the faithful a sizable reward for their loyalty. All the essentials on are display, just widened and softened a bit for the big screen.

Living in a moronic "Step Up" world of drearily sexualized hipster dancing and manufactured anti-establishment attitudes, the skim milk allure of "HSM" is appreciated, offering something of a throwback to the sunny day spirit of a Garland/Rooney musical. "Senior Year" has a genuineness about it that's wonderful to observe and provides the original cast a platform for a marvelous, bouncy final bow.

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HOUSE NOW AVAILABLE

Here is the summary for the movie House from imdb

In rural Alabama, two couples find themselves in a fight for survival. Running from a maniac (The Tin Man) bent on killing them, they flee deep into the woods and seek refuge in a house. They soon realize the killer has purposely lured them to this house and that they are now trapped. As they huddle around an old fireplace, a tin can falls through the chimney. Scrawled on its side is a message from the killer, establishing his House Rules. The rules call for their deaths unless they kill at least one of the four. They have less than 12 hours to find a way to survive. At sunrise the game is over and everyone dies if the killer's demands aren't met. What they quickly learn is that the only way out... is in. But going further into this house--where unknown challenges await them--is equally deadly. Written by Anonymous

Two couples finding their way to different location both find their cars to be wrecked and ran from the wreckage. Both couples find their way to this House in which a few back woods inhabitants live... none are taken for more then they appear... until... a can is sent down the chimney in to the house. It is sent by and evil sadistic "Tin Man" the house rules... "Welcome to my house. House rules: 1. God came into my house and i killed him. 2. I will kill anyone who comes into my house as i killed God. 3. Give me one dead body and i might let rule two slide. GAME OVER AT DAWN." The couples are sent into a raging search to find a way out or find who should be killed. They meet up with a little girl along the way. Susan. Is she the one... but she will help them out... by digging into their hearts... or will she? Written by A huge peretti dekker fan

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OFFICE SPACE NOW AVAILABLE

Here is the summary for the movie Office Space from imdb

Peter Gibbons, thanks to a hypnotic suggestion, decides not to go to work at the same time his company is laying people off. When layoffs affect his two best friends, they conspire to plant a virus that will embezzle money from the company into their account. Written by Foggy

Peter Gibbons just can't seem to catch a break. His girlfriend is cheating on him, he has an obnoxious neighbor, and he's completely miserable with his job as a small cog in a company called Initech. Then he visits a hypnotherapist, who dies just after putting Peter into a state of complete bliss. Free of worrying about making a living, he no longer feels the need to keep his job, just as the company is going through a massive downsizing. However, his new attitude only makes him more valuable in the company's eyes, and his friends Michael and Samir are fired instead. Together, they scheme to plant a virus inside Initech's computer system that will pull money into their own account. Written by rmlohner

Here is a review for the movie Office Space from dvdtalk

The Movie:

"Office Space" was released in the early weeks of 1999 with little fanfare and not much advertising. The movie was quickly bumped out of theaters and ended up with a gross of a little over $10m. The movie then became an enormous hit on DVD, and the cult following the film has attracted has only grown since.

Directed by Mike Judge ("Beavis and Butthead"), "Space" stars Ron Livington as Peter, a worker at a generic tech company as software engineers. He's introduced in the middle of morning traffic, veering between lanes to try and get ahead, but only finding himself still locked in the bumper-to-bumper traffic. Looking over to the side of the road, he spots an old man with a walker who looks like he's getting to his destination faster than Peter is. Once he arrives at work, he is told by three different managers that he forgot to add the new cover letter to his report.

Deeply dismayed with his current employment ("I was sitting in my cubicle today and realized that every single day of my life has worse than the day before it, so every single day that you see me is on the worst day of my life."), he eventually agrees to see an occupational therapist recommended by his irritable girlfriend. When the therapist has a heart attack in the middle of the treatment, Peter has something of a "break" - he decides to persue his dreams of doing nothing ("I did absolutely nothing, and it was everything I thought it could be.") He sleeps late, doesn't come in on weekends if he's asked, and tries to romance the waitress (Jennifer Aniston) at the chain restaurant next door. He's not going to quit - he's just going to essentially stop going.

Meanwhile, "consultants" have been brought in, and everyone knows they're there to decide who stays and who goes. Peter, who strolls in without a care, ends up managing to impress them enough not only to not fire him, but to actually give him a promotion. Despite that, Peter and friends Michael (David Herman), and Samir (Ajay Naidu) decide to go ahead with a plan to take money from the company through a program that will take off little bits of change from every transaction. Needless to say, it doesn't go according to plan.

Full of quotable lines and hilarious moments, "Office Space" gets all the details right and the laughs do often operate on the fact that almost everyone finds themselves at a job like this at one time or another (I once worked at an office doing data entry and no one really told me what to do. While I worked there for an entire Summer, I didn't find out until the last day that I had been doing an aspect of the job wrong for months. Every day, every one went to their cubicle and there was barely any communication.) However, the film's spin on office culture is funny and sharply realized, with "we all have wanted to it at one time or another" moments like when the three take the troublesome printer out behind the office and destroy it. The film's use of rap music is also nothing short of priceless.

The performances are terrific, as well. Gary Cole's boss is a classic character, droning out every word of every sentence and offering a flat, insincere thanks when he snares someone to come in to work additional hours on the weekend. Livington is a great "everyguy", and Naidu and Herman are superb as his co-workers. Aniston makes something out of a pretty minimal part, and convincingly plays an average girl tired of having to wear "flair" on her uniform at the restaurant. Finally, Stephen Root ("Newsradio") is amusing as quiet, mumbling worker Milton (the film is based on Judge's "Milton" animated shorts).

"Office Space" is shot in a pretty minimalist way by Judge (his first live-action effort), but the characters and dialogue work supremely well and absolutely carry the movie.


The DVD

VIDEO: "Office Space" is presented by Fox in 1.85:1 anamorphic widescreen (the previous DVD edition was non-anamorphic), "Office Space" still isn't the strongest movie visually, but the picture quality is noticably better this time around. Sharpness and detail are improved, as the picture appeared consistently more detailed and crisp this time around.

Additionally, the picture looks smoother and more "film like" here, with no edge enhancement, pixelation or shimmering. There are some moments where some minor specks are spotted on the print, but these are pretty minor and not distracting. Colors appeared somewhat richer here, and black level looked solid. Overall, while the prior release didn't look too bad, I was pleased to see that this new transfer does certainly look better.

SOUND: "Office Space" is presented in Dolby Digital 5.1. This is the same audio presentation as the prior release. Largely a "comedy"-style presentation, the majority of the audio comes from the front speakers, with the surrounds only providing minimal reinforcement. The rap songs on the soundtrack deliver some solid bass, but otherwise this is a fairly straightforward, dialogue-driven audio presentation.

EXTRAS: "Out of the Office" is a nearly 30-minute "look back" documentary that has Judge and the cast talking about their thoughts on the film, their characters and working on the film. It's only in the last quarter of the documentary that we learn more about things like a potential PG-13 rating, the popular Swingline stapler, and the reaction to the movie. The featurette does have some fun interviews with the cast and a few insights, but there's a lot of time spent on praising each other and quite a few movie clips added in. Some outtakes from John C. McGinley are also added in during his segment, and are quite funny.

Also offered here are eight deleted scenes presented in rough form, with no optional commentary. Some of the scenes are quite funny, and I thought a couple should have been included in the movie. There's also the trailer, and some additional DVD-ROM content (audio clips, an interactive game, wallpaper, screensaver and more.)

Final Thoughts: "Office Space" remains a smart and hilarious office comedy, with great performances and memorable characters and dialogue. Fox's new Special Edition doesn't offer much in the way of supplements (a commentary from Judge or the cast would have been nice), but image quality does get a boost here.

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THE MOVIE W NOW AVAILABLE

Here is the summary for the movie W from imdb

A chronicle on the life and presidency of George W. Bush.

Here is a review for the movie W from dvdtalk

A George W. Bush bio-pic in the calloused hands of filmmaker Oliver Stone provides so much promise, it'll make your head throb to simply consider the potential. Would "W." be flat-out character assassination? A screwball farce? A diseased ode to the haunted mind of a controversial president? Turns out, after all the hand-wringing anticipation and peanut gallery predictions of malicious liberal content, "W." is total and utter kitten play; a softball portrait of Bush that resembles more of a nutty community theater production than a typical scorching Stone project. Nevertheless, the unnervingly ordinary path taken by Stone exposes something completely unanticipated: sympathy.

Written by Stanley Weiser ("Wall Street"), "W." isn't structured as a typical bio-pic. Stone goes more for a "greatest hits" assembly, using the dubious planning stages of the Iraq War with confidants Condoleeza Rice (a virtually unrecognizable Thandie Newton), Donald Rumsfeld (Scott Glenn), Karl Rove (Toby Jones), Colin Powell (Jeffrey Wright), and Dick Cheney (Richard Dreyfuss) as the home base of the picture. From there, the narrative bounces throughout time to survey Bush's Yale frat-pledging years, his limited patience with jobs, sating a desire to run a baseball team, the wooing of Laura Bush (Elizabeth Banks), his ascension to Texas leadership, and the feeding of a lifelong combustibility with parents George Sr. (James Cromwell) and Barbara (Ellen Burstyn).

There's no rolling sense of pace holding the film together, instead "W." aims for an episodic approach to hunt a deeper understanding of what demons propelled Bush from a spoiled young man to the presidency. It's one hell of a story, yet Stone seems afraid to get his hands dirty. In 1995's "Nixon," the director found a particular respectful wavelength to approach a poisonous regime, while keeping a dense psychological framework alive even through the most iconic historical situations. "W." doesn't share that same passion. Stone shuffles away from his bag of visual tricks to shoot the picture with startling straightforwardness, eschewing camera pizzazz and editing subtext to stay close to Bush, abandoning all artistic flourishes. It creates an interesting tension at first, especially with so much dead, eerily silent (a minimal amount of music is used for the picture) space allowed for Brolin to deliver career-best work as Bush, but the inertia soon catches up with the film.

Perhaps it's unfair to criticize Stone for his ambivalence toward Bush, yet that very restraint eventually overcomes the film, checking off familiar moments in history (the pretzel choke, the "Mission Accomplished" debacle) with plodding execution. There's no spinning-plate craftsmanship or meticulous political satire to be dissected in the picture, which favors only mild, ineffective comedy with Bush's famously inarticulate ways and grave examination of familial discord.

The roaring, enduring confrontation between Bush Sr. and Bush Jr. is primarily where Stone rests between bouts of historical recreation. This is the psychological meat of the film, presenting Bush's indefatigable attempts to win fatherly approval while fighting the legacy of the Bush name. Bush Jr. was a party boy at heart, apathetic toward responsibility, turning to booze for consolation. "W." turns the president into a sensitive man of perplexed intention, falling into his political successes almost accidentally, hoping only to impress his father. The Shakespearian war of wills between the two Bushes conjures the film's most evocative moments, observing the fragility of Bush Jr. and how it informed his rise to power. Again, Stone treats the man with outrageous kindness when evisceration is certainly easier, spotlighting the vulnerability of Bush to best reassess what has occurred in the country over the last eight years.

Pushed through production this year at a lightning pace, "W." is overlong and winded at 125 minutes, was visibly neutered to meet a PG-13 rating, and lacks a concentrated editorial polish along the lines of Stone's previous motion pictures. It's a messy film of contorted faces and stained lives, but certainly Stone deserves some credit for tackling Bush with such reserve. Assembled from both fact and fiction, "W." doesn't throw the book at George W. Bush; the picture presents a whole new angle to the man that's fascinating to reflect on, trapped in a glacial, flavorless film that undermines such a valiant take on a legendary figure of division.

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MAX PAYNE NOW AVAILABLE

Here is the summary for the movie Max Payne from imdb

Coming together to solve a series of murders in New York City are a DEA agent (Wahlberg) whose family was slain as part of a conspiracy and an assassin (Kunis) out to avenge her sister's death. The duo will be hunted by the police, the mob, and a ruthless corporation.

Here is a review for the movie Max Payne from dvdtalk

85 minutes long, rated PG-13, released by Fox, directed by John Moore, and a screenplay based on a video game. That's a recipe for disaster, and "Max Payne" is more than happy to fulfill its destiny as a noxious actioner devoid of humanity, elementary cinematic language, and thespian nuance. Once again the game world collides with the multiplex, and once again I question the point of taking an interactive experience and turning it into a conventional feature film, omitting the specificity that made the property viable in the first place.

Mourning his dead wife and baby, detective Max Payne (Mark Wahlberg) has spent the last three years hunting the killers who tore apart his idyllic life. After a chance meeting with a Russian prostitute (Olga Kurylenko), a clue is left behind by her gruesome death, leading Max closer to an energy drug that produces hallucinogenic visions of demons, the possible motive behind the slaughter of his family. Finding little help from former colleagues (Beau Bridges) and police officers (Chris "Ludacris" Bridges), Max forms an alliance with assassin Mona Sax (Mila Kunis), and the two set out to uncover the mastermind behind a recent rash of murders, possibly leading to the solution of Payne's case.

What John Moore brings to the artistic table is visual fetishism. After "Behind Enemy Lines," "Flight of the Phoenix," and "The Omen" remake, Moore has proven himself a meticulous screen stylist, preferring a glossy moment of violence over anything resembling a legitimate emotional reaction. A former commercial director, Moore hasn't bothered to warm up his touch over the years, leaving "Payne" a soulless exercise in empty calorie filmmaking; the background lighting and set design continually take precedence over the actors and ultimately whatever story manages to survive the creative malnourishment.

Moore treats "Payne" as another polished cinematographic playing field, imagining a world where the snow never stops falling (a noticeable continuity nightmare), the locations are ripe with noirish lighting, and the streets are guarded by psychological demons of the night. Moore demonstrates outstanding control over his environments, but holds no fundamental storytelling instincts, spending all of his time perfecting the shots while an entire film leisurely strolls past him with almost nothing to do but stand around and look confused. Moore fumbles "Payne" immediately, excessively clowning around with hackneyed camera and post-production technology, leading to a full mummification of the picture from the surplus of strained gimmickry.

I've only played the "Payne" video game once, and while it satisfied my home console blood thirst temporarily, it certainly didn't scream out for a feature-length film adaptation. Screenwriter Beau Thorne is hopelessly lost trying to dream up a furious, elongated road for Payne, instead falling back on the most eye-rolling scripting clichés to pass time between the action beats Moore works himself into a lather to cover. Corporate conspiracies? Deceptive friendships? Gorgeous 90-pound female professional killers? Surely there could be more to the "Payne" universe than scraps from the "CSI: Miami" reject pile. Thorne barely eeks out a coherent tale of revenge for our hero, forgoing valiant scripting imagination to serve up the same old double-crosses and seedy criminal underworlds.

It should come as no surprise that Moore is terrible with actors as well, ignoring their needs to feed his own plastic precision. The cast is a fairly strange assortment of faces, with Chris O'Donnell, Donal Logue, and Nelly Furtado completing a miscasting arc that includes Kunis, Ludacris, and ultimately Wahlberg. Doing his now infamous tough-guy stance, Wahlberg sleepwalks through "Payne," effectively erasing the reputable work that actor has been putting forth recently. It's tough to fault Wahlberg for his blank stare, since he's competing with Moore and his slackjawed lust for pointless slow-motion, shattering glass, and sexualized bullet discharges.

Coming on the heels of last year's woeful "Hitman" adaptation (oddly, also starring Kurylenko), "Max Payne" further dents the questionable concept of the big screen video game celebration. Here's the ultimate question: would you rather play out the violent wrath of Max Payne or watch some lousy filmmakers turn the world into mounds of formulaic drivel?

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THE SECRET LIFE OF BEES NOW AVAILABLE

Here is the summary for the movie The Secret Life of Bees from imdb

Set in South Carolina in 1964, the film is the moving tale of Lily Owens a 14 year-old girl who is haunted by the memory of her late mother. To escape her lonely life and troubled relationship with her father, Lily flees with Rosaleen, her caregiver and only friend, to a South Carolina town that holds the secret to her mother's past. Taken in by the intelligent and independent Boatwright sisters, Lily finds solace in their mesmerizing world of beekeeping, honey and the Black Madonna. Written by Fox Searchlight

Here is a review for the movie The Secret Life of Bees from dvdtalk

"The Secret Life of Bees" is really "Oprah Book Club: The Movie." A sluggish attempt to marry histrionic behavior best left in soap operas with a route story of discrimination and abuse in 1964 South Carolina, the picture is an admirable effort to articulate compassion, but remains lost to a sticky mess of melodrama that devours anything close to a sincere moment.

Living under the tight control of her alcoholic father T. Ray (Paul Bettany), young teen Lily (Dakota Fanning) is dealing with her own guilt over her mother's death and the questions left behind. Leaving T. Ray, Lily and fugitive housekeeper Rosaleen (Jennifer Hudson) hit the road, soon stumbling upon the Boatwright family, June (Alicia Keys), May (Sophie Okonedo), and August (Queen Latifah), and their business of honey production. Joining the women under false pretenses, Lily finds a safe haven amongst the family, who allow the girl an opportunity to find herself and seek out answers to the mystery of her mother while tending to the bees.

Adapted from the best-seller by Sue Monk Kidd, "Bees" doesn't mess around with subtle acts of indignation. Writer/director Gina Prince-Bythewood aims for the inspirational waterworks with this production, reducing an established astuteness behind the camera to play roughly with manipulation. "Bees" doesn't strike me as a particularly reflective concept for a movie, working well-worn lines of racial unrest and southern-fried domestic dispute (Fanning's similar "Hounddog" open mere weeks ago) to middling results, suffocated in overacting and montage-heavy storytelling. It's not that "Bees" lacks comfort, it just accepts artificiality over soulful nuance, deflating the experience to a robotic bore.

Prince-Bythewood has much to cover with "Bees," making room to communicate the sisterhood of Boatwrights and their commitment to spiritual harmony while the outside world dissolves into pure hatred. Unfortunately, the filmmaker dials down the family's personalities to fit more confined, easily digestible narrative spaces, making the hollow performances even more grating. The condensed script doesn't even make much room for Hudson, who becomes the Silent Bob of the troupe, a merciful quality as the director keeps the rest of the gang in perpetual states of crying and/or sermonizing.

"Bees" is kindly enough and perhaps those who desire a less taxing time at the multiplex will swim comfortably along with the melodrama. "Bees" comes across to me as one-half of a movie, buttressed by artifice to see itself to completion, riding the coattails of the source material to blanket the disconcerting surface quality of the film. It's impossible to invest in Lily's distress when she's a threadbare character, let loose in a screen world of ridiculous stereotypes and sun-kissed contrivance. "The Secret Life of Bees" aspires to make the audience weep uncontrollably as the characters find their inspirational path in life, but it'll most likely put everyone to sleep.

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TROPIC THUNDER NOW AVAILABLE

TROPIC THUNDER NOW AVAILABLE ONLINE

HERE IS THE SUMMARY FOR THE MOVIE TROPIC THUNDER FROM IMDB

Through a series of freak occurrences, a group of actors shooting a big-budget war movie are forced to become the soldiers they are portraying.

HERE IS A REVIEW FOR THE MOVIE TROPIC THUNDER FROM DVDTALK

In writer/director/star Ben Stiller's new comedy, Tropic Thunder, Robert Downey Jr., playing Russell Crowe-like actor Kirk Lazarus, a bad-boy Australian thespian who had his skin surgically darkened as part of his method in preparation for the role of an African American solider in the Vietnam War, describes his own complicated situation by saying, "I'm playing the dude who plays a dude who is disguised as another dude." Perplexing, self-referential, and yet strangely accurate. They could have adapted this line for the poster: Tropic Thunder is the movie about a movie that's really another movie.

Downey's Lazarus is one of the leading serious actors of this flick's fictional Hollywood, and he is joining fading action star Tugg Speedman (Stiller) and low-brow comedian Jeff Portnoy (Jack Black) in Vietnam to shoot a multi-million-dollar adaptation of a book called Tropic Thunder, the story of Four Leaf Tayback (Nick Nolte), a vet who went through hell and lived to tell about it. In a case of art imitating life, this production starts to sink into hell itself, Apocalypse Now! style. This leads Tayback and the neophyte British director (Steve Coogan) at the helm to take drastic measures. They plan to force that imitation of life to be more than imitation, dropping their cast--which also includes hip-hop soda impresario (say it out loud) Alpa Cino (Brandon T. Jackson) and gawky newcomer Kevin Sandusky (Jay Baruchel)--into the middle of the jungle, where hidden cameras will capture them trekking through the bush while avoiding the wicked firepower doled out by crazy munitions man Cody (Danny McBride, stealing another show a mere week after Pineapple Express).

Only problem is, the attempt to use reality to create the illusion of "war is hell" ends up getting a little too real. Stranded on their own, and trespassing across the poppy fields of the local drug cartel, the actors are now caught in an actual conflict that they still think is special effects set-up, digging themselves deeper and deeper into trouble before actually having to man up and take on the bad guys all on their own.

It's a crazy concept, and one that doubles back on itself so much, Tropic Thunder could have become a knotted mess had the wrong cooks been let into the kitchen. Instead, Stiller, who co-wrote the screenplay with actor Justin Theroux (Mulholland Drive and Etan Coen (who wrote Idiocracy, and is not to be mistaken for a Coen Brother), has a firm grasp on what he is trying to do here, and somehow he keeps it all straight. At times, he veers off on a silly Stiller tangent, going more towards a Zoolander-style spoof than incisive satire, including an instantaneous switch over to "jungle crazy" when his character is stranded on his own or the long dialogue sequences about method acting that may be a little too "inside baseball" for anyone who hasn't sat through multiple seasons of Inside the Actor's Studio, but he always manages to jump back before going off the rails.

That same attention to detail that could overwhelm the picture also works in the movie's favor, making Tropic Thunder a sort of compatriot to films like Hot Fuzz and Pineapple Express. These are movies about the love of the cheesy action films many of us grew up on, using the comedies as a disguise to get away with making their own version of that thing they so adore. It's an endeavor that requires a nerdy obsessiveness. Even the names have some importance. Downey plays Lazarus playing Osiris, the man who rose from the dead playing the Egyptian god of the dead, with a character arc about rediscovering one's true identity. It's like a comparative literature grad student decided to rewrite Commando. (Of course, there are also guys named "Cockburn" and "Pecker," so it's not all about the classics.)

Fans of Ben Stiller's old TV show know what a crafty eye he has for over-the-top parody. (Remember Eddie Munster starring in Cape Fear?) The best stuff in Tropic Thunder is when he goes after the movie industry with both guns, skewering such Hollywood conventions as the "magical retard" and other Oscar-baiting tactics. Both Robert Downey Jr. and Jack Black are having fun at the expense of their own self-image. Black's Jeff Portnoy is a kind of cross between Adam Sandler and Eddie Murphy, with maybe a little of Andy Dick's drug mania tossed in. (Or even Downey's.) To hear the man who made Nacho Libre bemoaning that the laughter he inspires doesn't come with more respect is seasoned with a kind of delicious irony. So, too, does Downey's speech about being found in a cardboard box pretending he's Neil Armstrong after filming a biopic about the astronaut strike pretty close to the actor's home. His performance as the delusional thespian who has buried himself so deep he's forgotten his own identity is nothing short of astounding. Stiller even let's the racial debate flare between Lazarus and Alpa Cino, who also adds to the movie's themes by having his own secrets.

In addition to the leads, Tropic Thunder is sure to draw a lot of attention for its host of cameos. Stiller peppers his film with people like Maria Menounos and Jon Voight playing themselves, but he also fills supporting roles with some surprising faces. Matthew McConaughey actually manages to play slimy convincingly as Tugg Speedman's agent, but the true surprise is Tom Cruise letting out his silly side as billionaire studio chief Les Grossman. Sporting a beard, bald cap, and oddly disproportionate fat suit, Cruise recaptures some of that lethal energy he brought to P.T. Anderson's Magnolia and then cuts loose with it, clearly having a ball ranting and raving from underneath the ridiculous costume. Normally, it's the kind of outfit Stiller would put himself in, but for once the actor sticks to just being who he is. It's a smart move, especially after the shots Tropic Thunder takes at Eddie Murphy for The Klumps.

All in all, Tropic Thunder isn't an entirely consistent comedy. I laughed a lot, but I also did have stretches where I wasn't laughing much at all. I wasn't bored, per se, but there are some tonal divots that maybe try too hard to add in the smarts or Apatow-like pathos. When what you're making fun of is dumb through and through, you don't have to work that hard to prove you're brighter than the source material. Thankfully, Tropic Thunder really hits its stride in the final third, and it's nonstop yuks all the way to the ingenious closing credits. Factoring in that the movie has one of the best cold opens I've ever seen, then that means Tropic Thunder finishes just as strong as it began, and that's really saying something.

Jamie S. Rich is a novelist and comic book writer. His current novel is entitled Have You Seen the Horizon Lately? and was released by Oni Press in the summer of 2007. It follows up on both of his successful books from 2006, the pop-culture hit The Everlasting, and his original graphic novel with Joëlle Jones, 12 Reasons Why I Love Her. Rich is currently writing the ongoing independent comic book series Love the Way You Love.

HERE IS THE DIRECT DOWNLOAD FOR THE MOVIE TROPIC THUNDER.

THE WOMEN NOW AVAILABLE

Here is the summary for the movie The Women from imdb

The story centers on a group of gossipy, high-society women who spend their days at the beauty salon and haunting fashion shows. The sweet, happily-wedded Mary Haines finds her marriage in trouble when shop girl Crystal Allen gets her hooks into Mary's man. Naturally, this situation becomes the hot talk amongst Mary's catty friends, especially the scandalmonger Sylvia Fowler, who has little room to talk - she finds herself on a train to Reno and headed for divorce right after Mary. Written by Anonymous

Here is a review for the movie The Women from dvdtalk

With this impressive collection of actresses and production duties handled by the renowned Diane English, it's a crushing disappointment to find the latest update of the famed play "The Women" a defanged, broad ode to one-dimensional empowerment. The performances shine, but the rest of this mediocre travelogue of feminine foibles is given the blunt-force treatment, draining the material of deserved big-screen acidity.

When gossip concerning her husband's infidelity leads to Mary's (Meg Ryan) doorstep, she panics, unable to process this violation of trust during a period of time where she also loses her job and the admiration of her teen daughter. Coming to the rescue are her friends, fashion magazine editor Sylvia (Annette Bening), full-time mom Edith (Debra Messing), and full-time lesbian Miriam (Jada Pinkett Smith), not to mention further support from housekeeper Maggie (Cloris Leachman) and mother Catherine (Candice Bergen). While struggling with their own disappointments in life, the ladies team up to help Mary through this difficult time, turning their venom on Crystal (Eva Mendes, vamping it up), the formidable mistress who won't back down from the affair.

An amalgamation of the 1936 play by Clare Boothe Luce and the classic 1939 feature film from director George Cukor, this modern take on age-old questions of loyalty and the toxicity of cattiness is hoping to compete in a "Sex and the City" world of women dominated by labels, liquor, and lascivious behavior. From the outside, English, the creator of the iconic television comedy "Murphy Brown," is the perfect match for the heady material. After all, who better to tackle a tale of female worry with an all-female cast (only one man is allowed here) than a lauded professional with extensive experience probing the female mind?

As inspiring as her gifts are, English is lacking a deep-seated knowledge of motion picture timing and execution. "The Women" feels slack and pushy with its themes, written more as a sitcom than as an epic narrative of companionship and Manhattan-bred, high-society anxiety. English loves her characters, each woman representing a certain shade of femininity, but there's little consistency to the story, which springs back and forth from a screwball comedy to weighty drama, exploring the difficulty of marriage maintenance, the dangerous self-esteem issues facing women today, and the thin-ice dance of lifelong bonding. Meeting the demands of the Cukor film, her own modernization subplots, and the need to invent a world for these characters, distracts English from an organized screenplay, which often resorts to light sermonizing to cross off the bullet points she wants to cover. It leaves little room for appealing tartness to stroll in and lift the picture off the ground.

While not written as a free-for-all acting battle royal, English casts her feature beautifully, with every member of the ensemble at least attempting to muscle their way into the action. Actresses like Pinkett Smith try too hard to make an impression (her slouched lesbo stance screams incompetence), while stars such as Ryan and Bening carefully ace their roles. Playing the fashion queen fearing her age is leaving her ego vulnerable to a youthful revolt at her magazine, Bening seems almost a caricature of the Samantha Jones mentality at first (English introduces the character comedically as a Saks Fifth Avenue cyborg, complete with robot vision), but the performance relaxes during the film, and Bening plays the comedy and soul with generous quirk.

Meg Ryan is the unofficial star of "Women," taking on the sympathy of the script while assuming the audience's role as the confused spectator to emotional disaster. Here's a phrase I haven't used since the 1990s: Ryan delivers a knockout performance. She hits both areas of physical comedy and domestic distress with lovely timing she hasn't embraced in years. English deserves kudos for this unexpected note of casting success.

Unlike the diseased nonsense of "Sex and the City," "The Women" has a few important issues it wants to discuss between moments of females getting gushy over handbags and holding low opinions of men. That counts for something in this newly-minted genre. Still, English isn't confident behind the camera, and while her picture sparkles with New York majesty, fashion accessories, and a game cast, "The Women" never achieves a healthy level of playfulness or profundity, trapped in a void of mediocrity no quantity of star-powered estrogen can salvage.

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(PRE RELEASE) DISNEY'S TINKERBELL NOW AVAILABLE

Here is the summary for the movie Tinkerbell from imdb

Enter the magical world of fairies and meet the enchanting creatures of Pixie Hollow, who "nurture nature" and bring about the change of the seasons. Changing the colors of the leaves, moving a sunbeam to melt snow, waking animals from their winter slumber, or giving a patch of sproutlings a sprinkle of water are all within the realm of these seasonal specialists. Tinker Bell thinks her fairy talent as a "tinker" isn't as special or important as the other fairies' talents. But when Tink tries to change who she is, she creates nothing but disaster! With encouragement from her friends Rosetta, Silvermist, Fawn and Iridessa, Tink learns the key to solving her problems lies in her unique tinker abilities and discovers that when shes true to herself, magical things can happen.

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BODY OF LIES NOW AVAILABLE

Here is the summary for the movie Body of Lies from imdb

Roger Ferris, Leonardo DiCaprio, is a CIA covert operative working in Jordan searching for terrorists who have been bombing civilian targets. Ferris uncovers information on the Islamist mastermind Al-Saleem (Alon Aboutboul). He devises a plan to infiltrate Al-Saleem's terrorist network with the help of his boss back in Langley, Ed Hoffman (Russell Crowe). Ferris enlists the help of the Chief of Jordanian Intelligence, Hani Salaam (Mark Strong) on this operation. But he doesn't know how far he can trust him without putting his life in danger. During war time, a spy doesn't know who he can trust, not even his own people. Douglas Young (the-movie-guy)

Here is a review for the movie Body of Lies from dvdtalk

"Body of Lies" is a mediocre espionage film tarted up as a prestigious offering, cast with blinding stars, directed by a once mighty visionary, and drawing from topical source material meant to provoke chills and international thought. However esteemed the package may be, "Lies" is a turgid Middle Eastern thriller, firing blanks as an action submission and presenting a wet match to light the fire of political discourse.

As a C.I.A. operative, Roger Ferris (Leonardo DiCaprio, appropriately furious) fights tooth and nail every day to maintain his cover and keep one step ahead of terrorists during his rounds of the Middle East. As Ferris's boss, Ed Hoffman (Russell Crowe) enjoys the easy life in Washington overseeing perilous missions, abusing Ferris's exasperation to his own advantage. Sent to Jordan to cozy up to intelligence officer Hani Salaam (Mark Strong), Ferris begins a campaign of deception to help nab an influential terrorist leader, only to find his own methods are starting to spiral out of control, leaving him and his newfound Iranian love (Golshifteh Farahani) wide open to vicious retaliation and the potential loss of American support.

Serviceable is a great way to describe "Body of Lies." There's nothing bone-rattling about this presentation of paranoia, instead the film takes a paint-by-numbers approach to wartime maneuvering and geopolitical happenings. Scott focuses on his polish this time around, making "Lies" a pretty picture with pretty stars, forgetting this genre is always best served with gritted teeth and an antagonistic point of view. Instead we have "The Kingdom" all over again: a topical thriller that uses Hollywood convention to limbo under any real confrontation or political stance. "Lies" isn't nearly as dopey as last year's Peter Berg sleeping pill, but it comes close, passing up an opportune moment to enrage audiences with a stark display of terrorism run amuck to skip through a field of cliché that wastes the monumental talents of the cast.

Scripted by William Monaghan (based on David Ignatius's book), "Lies" takes a sprawling, globe-trotting look at the mind games of terrorists and those who enlisted in the fight to curb violence. Scott is predictably skilled at getting a sense of scope into the film, observing Ferris as he rubber bands all over the map to maintain his cover and integrity. "Lies" generates location recognition wonderfully, and I have little reservation with the technical achievements of the film. What bothers me is the tepid pacing of the picture, and the shameless calculation of the screenwriting, viewed directly in the character of Aisha, a nurse who treats Ferris for a possible case of rabies, stealing his heart in the process.

While performed with suitable flirtation by Farahani, the character is meant to soften Ferris and provide a dangling thread for the third act to swoop in and exploit. It's tough to find a purpose for Aisha beyond obvious romantic manipulations, and the subplot seems to elongate an already overstuffed motion picture (125 minutes). Aisha is emblematic of the film's attempt to follow structure within a plot that demands chaos, forcing Scott to usher in a mammoth suicide bombing, shoot-out, or torture sequence every 15 minutes to keep his audience awake.

"Lies" isn't insightful about the war on terror, tends to sermonize when backed into a corner, and indulges Crowe far too much as he clowns it up as the prototypical American military fatso who would sell his own mother to protect himself. "Lies" cannot be swallowed as a lesson on current events, it's not that profound. It's a movie with terrorism, not about terrorism, and the thinness of the film starts to increasingly irritate when Scott has to find a way to end the picture on a stable note. Even if the concept was fresh ("Traitor" danced a similar jig two months ago), "Lies" remains an anesthetizing viewing experience.

Here is the direct download for the movie Body of Lies.