If you are a teenage girl, in love with the romance genre, then Twilight is your Citizen Kane. Not since Stanley Kubrick locked Nicole Kidman and Tom Cruise in a room together for hours and hours in Eyes Wide Shut have we seen more screen time devoted to the relationship of just two people.

Based on the best selling novel by Stephanie Meyer, Twilight tells the story of the deep attraction and constantly unconsummated relationship between two high school students, Bella and Edward. These two star crossed lovers would have little standing in their way were it not for the unavoidable fact that Edward is a vampire.

This conflict, "Will he lover her or will he eat her?" is the core of Twilight, everything else feels tacked on to fill out the movie. On paper this makes Twilight a fairly superficial and thin fil...Read the entire review

First off, let me say how much I love Donnie Darko. I first saw Donnie Darko when it premiered at Sundance and I was taken with the way it transported the viewer to an alternate universe, a dark and twisted place where you never knew where you stood. I look back now after watching Southland Tales and lay more credit for that on the performance of Jake Gyllenhaal, because it's hard for me to believe that Richard Kelly had anything to do with it. That's how bad Southland Tales is, it forces you to question if anyone should have ever let Richard Kelly make a film let alone if he had anything to do with Donnie Darko's success.

When I first heard about Southland Tales it was mixed in with reports of its 'tragic' Cannes Film Fest premiere. Audiences booed the film and critics complained about the mammoth running time. The film sat on the shelf for two years, ultimately getting a recut and shorter ...Read the entire review

Some Background:Ironweed is a new DVD club focused on creating discussions around socially relevant and progressive topics. It is a subscription-based club which sends out a monthly volume DVD containing at least one feature and several shorts. Many of their features are critically acclaimed and award winning films that have played key film festivals. At this point there is limited availability of the Ironweed DVDs after they are released, so if one of them interests you, it's best to snag them up before they're gone.

The DVD:
The spotlight title on the first volume from Ironweed is Wetback - The Undocumented Documentary, a 97 minute film by Arturo Pereze Torres and Heather Haynes. While most Americans are aware of the growing population of migrant workers and 'illegal' immigrants, few truly understand why so many Cent...Read the entire review

The Movie:
The two most difficult genres of films to really succeed in are the Mockumentary and the Movie Musical. It's the rare filmmaker who can hit a home run with either of these genres and that's why few attempt it. It's a treacherous territory of film making, so it's extremely surprising that an independent film maker with no formal musical training and on a bare bones budget would attempt to make an indie musical. Film maker Dan Mirvish isn't like most film makers. Well known as one of the founders of the Slamdance Film Festival, Mirvish has built a reputation for breaking down the barriers traditionally confining independent film makers with everything from self theatrical distribution to a ballsy campaign to resurrect an Oscar category. With Open House, Mirvish shows that a ton of creativity, a lot of wit and an immense amount of enthusiasm can pave the road to success even wit...Read the entire review

The Movie:
If I were to describe the premise for Hustle and Flow to you there's no way in the world you'd think "Wow, that's an amazing movie." I've lost track of the number of films that tell the story of a down-on-his-luck wanna-be rapper who thinks that if he gets his 'one shot' all will improve. While 8-mile may not have been a masterpiece it did seem to provide some sort of crescendo to this particular style of film. Just when you think the genre has jumped the shark, that this story simply couldn't be told any better or any fresher, in comes Hustle and Flow and turns everything upside down.

Focusing on the life and times of hustler 'D Jay', Hustle and Flow meanders through the rougher side of Memphis into the world of backseat hookers, seedy strip clubs, and mini mart drug deals. This isn't a pretty world, but writer/director Craig Brewer doesn't go out of his way to show how ugly or ...Read the entire review

The Movie:
In New York City, students in public school go through a program called "Ballroom in the Classroom" where they learn and then compete in ballroom dancing. This program reaches across the five burroughs of New York City and touches a wide range of students from the uber-impoverished to the fairly well situated. Mad Hot Ballroom follows this program at three different public schools in different areas of New York from early dance practices all the way through the final competition.

One of the things I like about Mad Hot Ballroom is that the film isn't just a rags to riches story; it doesn't try to show how ballroom dancing will keep kids off the street or how it provides them some sort of new future. The film's focus is present and immediate as it looks at the actual experience these kids have learning and performing ballroom dancing. The majority of the film's screen time is spen...Read the entire review

The Movie:
Falling in love with a movie is an interesting process. Sometimes it's love at first sight. Sometimes you have to see a film several times before it strikes that long-term bond. Sometimes it just sneaks up on you and hits you in a way so unexpected that you're just literally blown away. This is how I felt when I first saw Me You and Everyone We Know at Sundance 2005. As the film unspooled I felt myself falling for its quirky sensibilities, getting sucked in to the emotional relationships, and ultimately falling head over heals for this wonderfully complex and stunning film.

What makes the affair with Me and You and Everyone We Know even more profound is that the film is the debut from Miranda July, who wrote, starred and directed in the film. Miranda has her roots in performance art and experimental film but this is her first feature. I can't remember a bolder and more emotionall...Read the entire review

If I were to describe the premise for Hustle and Flow to you there's no way in the world you'd think "Wow, that's an amazing movie". I've lost track of the number of films that tell the story of a down-on-his-luck wanna-be rapper who thinks that if he gets his 'one shot' all will improve. While 8-mile may not have been a masterpiece it did seem to provide some sort of crescendo to this particular style of film. Just when you think the genre has jumped the shark, that this story simply couldn't be told any better or any fresher, in comes Hustle and Flow and turns everything upside down.

Focusing on the life and times of hustler 'D Jay', Hustle and Flow meanders through the rougher side of Memphis into the world of backseat hookers, seedy strip clubs, and mini mart drug deals. This isn't a pretty world, but writer/director Craig Brewer doesn't go out of his way to show how ugly or how hard it is. As wi...Read the entire review

Over the past few years there's been a real trend in the comedy concert films to group comedians together who share a common theme or identity. In The Three Amigos, the tie that binds is that all three comedians are Latino. Unfortunately when you cluster comedians like this you really don't get much of a performance from them. With a total running time of just over an hour each comedian only gets about twenty minutes. Twenty minutes is far too short for a real solid and meaningful performance from a comedian. This real downside is slightly offset by the fact that a group comedy concert can be a nice opportunity to discover a comedian you have never seen before. I picked up The Three Amigos because I'm a fan of Pablo Francisco. But after watching the DVD I found that it was Carlos Mencia's performance I most enjoyed, someone who I had never heard of before this DVD.

First up on the DVD is Freddy Soto....Read the entire review

The Program:

It's unfortunate, there just aren't many good regional classes out there for people who are interested in exploring a Vegetarian Diet. Most people turn to books like How It All Vegan or Becoming Vegan as their key source for tips, recipes, information and guidance. As good as these books are, they can never quite replicate the experience of taking a cooking class. To address that very problem the Vegetarian Cooking with Compassionate Cooks DVD brings the cooking class experience home with a great resource for people looking to explore and experimenting with a meat free diet.

Vegetarian Cooking with Compassionate Cooks runs just over an hour and it includes instruction for six dishes: Read the entire review

Most sports legends wait until they are in the twilight of their career to publish a compendium of their life story. With the 'best' years behind them, they look back, reflect on their career and attempt to pull all the pieces together. As with everything in his career Tiger Woods doesn't wait, when he feels the time is right, he pounces. Tiger - The Authorized DVD Collection is a 3 Disc collection documenting his life story, his professional career and his massive impact on the game of golf

Tiger Woods Part 1: Tiger's Prowl - His Life (85 Mins):

The first disc in this collection focuses on Tiger Wood's childhood - from his first golf swing at 11 months old, to his win of the US Junior Championship at age 15, all the way to the point when he was named the PGA 'Rookie of the year' in his 20's. In the first documentary you get a real sense of Woods beyond his golf game, including a look at his...Read the entire review

The Movie:

There's no question that Michael Moore's films have bias. Moore isn't a director who makes 'objective observer' documentaries, he's a filmmaker who creates personal and often political essays with a very specific and strong point of view. Fahrenheit 9/11 is no exception. The core of the film is the hypothesis that through power, influence and family connections, George W. Bush not only stole the 2000 presidential election, but he took America to war with Iraq for reasons that had much more to do with money and the welfare of wealthy friends than 'national security'.

I'm sure some readers will stop right here. Judge this film based solely on Moore's 'politics', perhaps even brand Moore with all sorts of nasty labels because of this point of view. If that's the case, what they'd be missing out on is a truly phenomenal film. Fahrenheit 9/11 is so much more than a political jab at ...Read the entire review

There's no question that Michael Moore's films have bias. Moore isn't a director who makes 'objective observer' documentaries, he's a filmmaker who creates personal and often political essays with a very specific and strong point of view. Fahrenheit 9/11 is no exception. The core of the film is the hypothesis that through power, influence and family connections, George W. Bush not only stole the 2000 presidential election, but he took America to war with Iraq for reasons that had much more to do with money and the welfare of wealthy friends than 'national security'.

I'm sure some readers will stop right here. Judge this film based solely on Moore's 'politics', perhaps even brand Moore with all sorts of nasty labels because of this point of view. If that's the case, what they'd be missing out on is a truly phenomenal film. Fahrenheit 9/11 is so much more than a political jab at conservatives (both ...Read the entire review

One of the great successes of modern animation is how the same film can be enjoyed at different levels by both children and adults. This success comes from a careful mix of fun gags and over-the-top humor to thrill the kids, and adult references coupled with a much more subtle and witty humor to entertain the adults. Shrek nailed this balance of humor perfectly and was rewarded with mega box office success. This time around in Shrek 2, the balance feels slightly askew; although young viewers will surely enjoy Shrek 2, the real audience for the film might just be the adults who accompany them to theaters.

The core of Shrek 2 is a romantic tale that follows Shrek and Fiona as they deal with the realities of being married, and their attempt to find a way to live 'Happily Ever After'. This time around the obstacles in the film aren't fire-breathing dragons or pits of lava, they are Fiona's parents (voice...Read the entire review

In New York there are over 18,000 restaurants. Every year more than 1,000 new restaurants open and 4 out of every 5 of them go out of business within 5 years. So who in their right mind would try their hand at a business where the odds are so clearly against you? John McCormick and Billy Phelps, while not out of their minds, aren't about to let the odds deter them from realizing their dreams. A little run-down building at the intersection of two vastly different ethnic neighborhoods in Williamsburg, Brooklyn is the place they'll stake their claim, one way or another.

The dream of opening a New York restaurant is nothing new. New York has long been the mecca for chefs, with a restaurant culture unmatched anywhere else in the world. Eat This New York takes a fascinating look at this world, contrasting the phenomenal success of chefs like Sirio Maccioni, Daniel Boulud and Rocco DiSpirito with the extrem...Read the entire review

It's funny, about fifteen minutes into Mel Gibson's The Passion it struck me just how much The Passion is a religious film. Of course a movie about the final hours of Jesus is going to be religious, but for some reason, going in I had missed the blindingly obvious fact that the movie is SOLELY a religious one. The Passion doesn't strive in any way to be entertainment, has nothing to do with characters, story or even dialog. The Passion is simply one man's attempt to re-enact a moment from the bible the way he views it; one could call it "The Gospel According to Mel".¹

In many ways The Passion is an elongated third act of a much longer film. M. Night Shyamalan did something similar with Unbreakable with an intense focus on the forming of the characters and defocus on what actually happens once they're formed. ...Read the entire review

Perhaps after the run of disappointing and mediocre films I've seen lately, I was expecting The Last Samurai to be another long, uninspired, bore. What I found was an enjoyable and familiar feeling film with strong performances and a lot of really great moments.

The story of The Last Samurai certainly isn't ground breaking. Director Ed Zwick revisits some of the same ground he visited in his film Glory and the story of The Last Samurai shares enough similarities with Dances with Wolves you could easily title it Dancing with Samurai. But familiar ground isn't necessarily a bad thing. I don't expect every film I see to break new ground, it just has to be compelling, entertaining and well made and The Last Samurai is all these things.

While The Last Samurai is a bit schmaltzy in places and several of the key emotional notes are hit over and over and over again, it is a film with a good number of fanta...Read the entire review

When you look at a list of the most influential bands of the last twenty years it's easy to do a double take when you see They Might Be Giants on the list. How could a quirky duo who sings about everything from a night light to string theory have had a huge impact on music? Like most things in life, it's all about timing. They Might Be Giants, a band made up of two guys who both happen to be named John (John Linnell and John Flansburgh) have ridden the waves of the music industry with a strong 'Do it Yourself' credo and little care for the conventional rules of 'The Biz'.

Success came early on for They Might Be Giants as they quickly built a following in the small clubs in New York in the Eighties. It wasn't long until They Might Be Giants got national exposure in the pages of People magazine, who featured their first album even though it didn't have a label backing and was only available directly...Read the entire review

You've seen the Matrix and loved it. You've seen Matrix Reloaded and well, OK, it wasn't the landmark film you thought it could be, and sure it had it's problems, but there's a lot worse out there. Now it's time for Matrix Revolutions, you're expectations are now a lot lower and your only hope now is that it's better than Reloaded. You've come this far... so why the not go the final lap?

What you'll find when you see Matrix Revolutions is that the story does get all wrapped up (No fake outs like in the X-Files Movie). It's all revealed and it's all resolved. Is it happily ever after? Well you'll have to be the judge of that. One thing's for sure it's not the payoff you were probably hoping for two movies back, but in this day and age ANY payoff from a 3rd movie in a series is something.

Will Matrix Revolutions knock your socks off? Probably not. Is it a bad film? Certainly not - it's jam packed ...Read the entire review

It's a pretty safe bet that if you go see a film built around a recent Saturday Night Live alumni, you're going to get a very silly and very fun movie. I'll never argue that films like Joe Dirt or Superstar are great cinema, they aren't supposed to be. There's definitely a time and a place for a stupid movie that makes you laugh and for many reasons I had hoped Elf would be that kind of movie. Unfortunately Elf is not that film.

One of the biggest problems with Elf is that it never quite figures out what kind of movie it wants to be - is it a kids film? A comedy? A fish out of water film? A love story? Or a film about Christmas Cheer? Elf wanders lost stumbling in each of these directions and manages never to succeed at any of them. I won't deny that there were several very funny points in the film, and at many of them I did really laugh. But these moments are so few and far between, that you have to...Read the entire review

In 2003....2004... Uma Thurman will Kill Bill....We think.

In the era of multi-episode movies comes the latest from film geek Quentin Tarantino - Kill Bill Vol 1. Originally intended to be one complete film, Miramax made the decision to split the film in two and release them several months apart. Marketing ploy to capture more of movie goers money? A necessary move for a 3 1/2 hour film with sword battles that seem to go on forever? It's hard to tell. Until Vol 2 hits screen one can only speculate at the entirety of this project.

Kill Bill Vol 1 certainly isn't a bad film, it's a cornucopia of film styles and references which will keep even the most astute film geek on his toes. Tarantino's training comes from his time spent working in a video store and it shows... in a good way. More than almost any other Director Tarantino has a deep understanding of the films that have been lost in the e...Read the entire review

Hollywood doesn't have the best of batting averages when it comes to pirate films. After the film Cutthroat Island barely squeaked out $11 million dollars gross in 1995 on a production budget of $92 million dollars the buzz around Hollywood was that pirate movies had a box office curse of their very own. Fast forward 8 years and enter the Walt Disney Company who decided to try their luck with a $125 million dollar special effect filled pirate move based loosely on one of their most popular rides in the Disneyland and Disney World theme parks. The result is Pirates of the Caribbean (which had moniker 'The Curse of The Black Pearl' tacked on close to release in hopes of a sequel).

The stakes couldn't be higher. Pirates of the Caribbean is the first film ever released under the Walt Disney Pictures brand to receive higher than a PG rating (the film is rated PG-13), and the team assembled to make the ...Read the entire review

The Matrix Reloaded is a sequel , and as dazzling as the action sequences are, as fantastic as the look of the film is and as large the scope and quantity of the effects are, there's simply no getting over the fact that we've seen many of them before. The Wachowski Brothers have always maintained that they conceived the Matrix as a trilogy, but their second installment suffers from many of the same problems of other 'great' film sequels and it struggles to meet the extremely high expectations created by the first installment of the trilogy.

The Matrix Reloaded is effectively a comic book superhero movie, right down to the guy flying through the air with a 'cape'. It opens soon after the close of the first Matrix film with Neo now aware of who he is and what he can do. While I enjoy a good superhero movie, I've always found the first chapters of them to be the most intriguing. I enjoy watching a chara...Read the entire review

Based on his successful stage play of the same name (and the same cast) The Shape of Things is the latest effort from Director Neil LaBute who best know for his films centered around tangled relationships and brutal encounters where people are so utterly cruel to each other you can't help but cringe (see In The Company of Men and Your Friends and Neighbors)

The Shape of Things in many way is LaBute 'light', it's a much softer, quieter and smaller film which seems content following the intertwined relationships of four people. Almost myopic in its focus The Shape of Things never strays far from the two main characters of the film and when it does the entire cast only consists of four actors. LaBute who wrote, directed and produced The Shape of Things does an admiral job of keeping the dialog sharp and fresh, but there's just so much dialog it inevitably causes the film to drag. Also The ...Read the entire review

The Show
Over the past few years Reality TV has taken off like a rocket ship. The relatively low cost to produce them and the tremendous number of viewers for the shows has made Reality TV the darling child of many networks. Unfortunately, the popularity of Reality TV has lead to a real glut of shows with a wide variety of quality. With many 'me too' shows out there (see 'I'm A Celebrity, Get Me Out Of Here!' and 'American Girl') the entire sector of reality based programming has begun to get a pretty bad reputation.

Given this, I found it intriguing that England's Channel 4 and US's PBS would work together to create their own foray into Reality TV. The project - The Manor House brings 13 British citizens from all walks of life together in a majestic Edwardian Mansion for three months to dress, eat, work and live within the rigid hierarchial structure of the 1905 Edwardian era.

Th...Read the entire review

5 minutes and 37 seconds.... That's how long The Chubbchubbs runs. It's probably the shortest DVD ever produced and surprisingly it comes without any special features or related extras (aside from a few trailers). But in the case of The Chubbchubbs! - good thing come in small (and short) packages.

The Chubbchubbs! is a fantastic computer animated short, with all the whit and humor you find in great crossover animation (something that plays both to kids and adults). The animation is so clean and well done with real depth to each shot. Director Eric Armstrong packs a ton into this little film, with a large number of site gags and 'in' jokes that it takes a couple of viewings to get them all.

The Chubbchubbs! won the 2002 Academy Award for Best Animated Short film and I think deservedly so. It's the kind of short film that can launch a career. I hope this production team connects with a feature...Read the entire review

The House of 1000 Corpses has had an interesting road to the silver screen: The movie was produced by Universal, who upon seeing the finished product decided not to release the film. Many people speculated that The House of 1000 Corpses might never see the inside of a movie theater and there was a great deal of conjecture as to what scared off Universal from releasing the film. Finally, Lions Gate picked up the film and decided to unleash it into theaters. Going in to The House of 1000 Corpses I had pretty clear expectations and hopes that if the film was a bad one, at least it would be a proverbial 'so bad it's good horror flick'. ¹

After suffering through The House of 1000 Corpses I am beginning to think that Universal was on the right track w...Read the entire review