The Japanese film Departures was one of the few surprises at the Oscars this year, both for it taking victory from the more touted competition in the Best Foreign Language category and for the amusing speech given by its director, Yojiro Takita. Given the man's humorous thank you, one might assume that Departures is a light-hearted film, not a serious rumination on death and the afterlife. And yet, that is exactly what Departures is, proving once again that the greatest wisdom often comes from the comedians among us.

Masahiro Motoki (Rampo) stars as Daigo Kobayashi, a cello player whose dream to be part of a symphony orchestra ends when the group he's joined dissolves. Despondent and broke, he and his wife Mika (Ryoko Hirosue, Wasabi) move ...Read the entire review

"We are here for the encoffment," they say when they arrive. The two men burn their incense as they clean the dead body in a ritualistic fashion, in order to "prepare the deceased for a peaceful departure." It is their job, and they take it very seriously; they are there for both the family and the deceased, as a kind of buffer that soaks up their grief while respecting the dead. It's not a job that Daigo (Masahiro Motoki) would have sought out (he sees that ad for an agent of "departures" and thinks it's for a job at a travel agency), but it becomes honorable in his eyes, though perhaps not in everyone else's.

The story of Daigo's journey is told in Departures, which pulled a big upset by beating out Waltz with Bashir and The Class for the Best Foreign Language Film award at this year's Oscars. From that strange, fascinating opening scene, director Yojiro Takita weaves ...Read the entire review

When Jeff (Adam Neal Smith) is taking care of his friend Mark's affairs following a fatal car accident, he discovers e-mails from an Italian man named Andrea (Allesandro Calza) regarding a romantic trip to Dallas he is planning to make to see Mark. Jeff informs Andrea of Mark's passing, but eventually tells him to come visit anyway. Unaware of this online relationship, Jeff is presumably curious to meet the guy that captured his best buddy's heart from all the way around the world. Over the course of the weekend, the two men bond over their grief and the separate memories of the person they shared, forming a stronger connection than either could ever have imagined.

Directed by Yen Tan (Happy Birthday), Ciao is an unpretentious, quietly emotional feature film that ...Read the entire review

It's hard not to feel an attack of the yawns with "I Can't Think Straight." After all, it's a fairly routine story of newfound lesbian rapture told with draggy melodrama and general overemphasis. However, the film is cast well with striking actresses Lisa Ray and Sheetal Sheth, who provide some needed emotional buoyancy to an otherwise unsuccessful attempt to merge hazardous sexual identity with turbulent world politics.

Celebrating her fourth marital engagement, indecisive Tala (Lisa Ray, "Water") is growing concerned with a dreary life of compromise and expectation ahead of her. Meeting timid writer Leyla (Sheetal Sheth, "Looking for Comedy in the Muslim World") through her family, Tala's senses are opened, and a strong attraction grows between the women as they bond over sh...Read the entire review

A whopping 19 producers had their hands in the "Tru Loved" pie, yet nobody told director Stewart Wade that his film was being swallowed whole by melodrama. The film surely means well with enormous messages of tolerance and self-esteem, but when "Tru Loved" digs in with broad caricatures of homophobia and all-purpose intolerance, the movie can be a supreme chore to sit through.

New to Walt Whitman High School, Tru (Najarra Townsend) finds trouble fitting in, saddled with the baggage of having four gay parents in her life. When musical-loving, all-star quarterback Lodell (Matthew Thompson) takes a shine to Tru, it sets off everyone's gaydar except Lodell's, who swears he's straight. As the two get to know each other, Lodell finally admits his homosexuality, but remains deeply fearful of coming out due to his football hero status. Using Tru as a hetero shield, Lodell carries on business as usual, making...Read the entire review

In 2003, the Massachusetts Supreme Court ruled it was unconstitutional to permit only heterosexual couples the opportunity to marry. Practically in the same instant the decision hit the media, the state became divided into two camps: those for gay marriage and those against. Verbal weapons were sharpened, legal counsel was wrangled in huge numbers, and legislators found themselves in the crosshairs with little comfort room to voice an opinion. The ruling (Goodridge v. Department of Public Health) conjured up a storm of controversy that challenged discrimination policies and changed lives forever.

"Saving Marriage" is not an impartial documentary on the topic of gay marriage, it's an extremely sympathetic film surveying those who crave a basic American right of equality. Directed by John Henning and Mike Roth, "Saving" is a plea for understanding and something of a call to arms, following a few of the...Read the entire review

As if the title alone wasn't enough to lock this loathsome feature film in a trunk and sink it to the bottom of the ocean, it also stars Paris Hilton. The mere mention of her name is enough to make one break out in hives, but the everlasting media whore isn't the worst thing about "Hottie," and that, my friends, is a shocking turn of events.

Nate (Joel David Moore, "Grandma's Boy") is a loser who wants to reverse the tide of his failed relationships by chasing after childhood love, Cristabelle (Paris Hilton). Attempting to woo her, Nate is promised carnal delights if he can find a boyfriend for Cristabelle's total opposite: the disgusting June (Christine Lakin). Balding, and cursed with rotting teeth and braidable body hair, hooking June up is a tall order, and as Nate goes about getting a man interested in her, he finds she's much more than fungal toenails and unibrow. She's all ...Read the entire review

"Freshman Orientation" is a comedy about college life, but you've seen this campus of clichés before. It's populated with colorful characters, but their personalities are a flavorless collection of blunt punchlines. Finally, "Freshman" is a gay-themed farce from a first-time director who's in way over his head trying to challenge sexual stereotypes, embrace the same stereotypes, and make a spunky, crude teen comedy all in the same breath.

Clay Adams (Sam Huntington, "Superman Returns") is a loudmouth off to his first year of college to nail as many girls as he can. Once arrived, he meets roommate Matt (Mike Erwin) and the two take off on their campus sexual adventure. Amanda (Kaitlin Doubleday, "Accepted") is a sorority pledge who is forced to seduce a gay man as part of her initiation. Spying Clay, she assumes he's the type of guy she's been looking for. Clay instantly falls in love with Amanda a...Read the entire review

The Movie:
Poster Boy, which won the 2004 Grand Jury Award for outstanding screenwriting at L.A. Outfest, is about Henry Kray, who is thrust into the spotlight as a poster boy in his father's campaign for re-election.

With a handful of bit parts to his name, Matt Newton, who portrays Poster Boy's main character, Henry Kray, is better than most of today's young Hollywood actors. His turn as a closeted homosexual yearning for anonymity while engaging in promiscuity and all while playing good son for his ultra-conservative Republican Senator of a father is both realistic and touching. Newton captures the struggles of his character in both expression and words, delivering one of the two scene-stealing roles in this film. The other role belongs to Newton's on-screen mother, played by film veteran Karen Allen. Her turn as the Senator's bitter, alcohol swilling, chain-smoking wife could have easil...Read the entire review

The Movie:
I think I know why The Mostly Unfabulous Social Life of Ethan Green didn't play in any theaters where I live--the marquees didn't have enough room for the name of the film. And that's too bad, because I enjoyed it.

Who can't relate to bad dates, run ins with exes, and one night stands that turn into relationships gone bad? Anyone with a history of dating should be able to get some laughs out of this movie.

This film, based on Eric Orner's comic strip, takes viewers on the ins and outs of dating Ethan Green, as well as peeks at the lives of everyone peripherally involved in his life, including his lover(s), roommate, exes, mother and friends.

With a running length of 88 minutes, even those with short attentions spans should be able to hang on until the end, which provides an ending that, although expected, wraps up the story nicely.

Apart from a surprisingly humorous perform...Read the entire review