Sympathy for the Devil and the Word Players

The Devil Wears Prada, an adaptation of the infamous 2004 roman à clef by onetime assistant to Vogue magazine editrix Anna Wintour-turned-chick-lit princess Lauren Weisberger, is set in the stimulating microcosm that is Manhattan, where whom you wear is just as important if not more than whom you know. At least according to this movie.

It follows the travails of recent college graduate Andrea Sachs, a wide-eyed young journalist who reluctantly takes a position as an assistant at Runway, the Holy Grail of fashion, even though she would much rather be writing serious articles for The New Yorker.

I could write an entire essay on why people really need to start considering that entertainment writing is just as important – and hey, someone’s got to do it! – but I think that if you’re reading this you probably know my take on this matter. All I will say is information, not matter what kind, is important. (In a way, this struggle of Andrea’s was strike 1 for the movie, come to think of it.)

Anyway, I recently heard a snippet of a phone interview between Bravo and Anne Hathaway, who plays Andrea in The Devil Wears Prada. I remember her saying something along the lines of how the movie sort of explores how young people reconcile their idealism with the reality of the world.

In a way, it does just that – albeit in terribly stylish fashion (thanks to costume designer Patricia Field, whose fashion-forward credits include HBO’s Sex and the City). But this breakthrough is by no means inventive; The Devil Wears Prada was a clever title for a generic book and now a clever title for a derivative movie, and not even Chanel, Jimmy Choo, or Prada can help that.

Don’t get me wrong, the movie is rather enjoyable, particularly because of Meryl Streep’s devilish turn as Runway’s editrix Miranda Priestly, a woman so fiercely chic and driven she epitomizes post-modern career womanhood. But it has a bit of a hard time maneuvering its way out of the many shtick-y corners it pits itself into in its very high Manolos. (Streep, by the way, can also be seen in the enjoyable ensemble A Prairie Home Companion.)

For one, The Devil Wears Prada features an almost obligatory makeover: Andrea goes from drab to fab almost as quickly as she not only compromises her idealism but also her values (only to eventually find herself once again, naturally). How passé!

And Miranda’s viciousness proves to be a statement of sorts, of course, but as we’re shown a side of hers she doesn’t allow anyone or even herself to know about, the movie asks that we forgive her a little, and we shouldn’t have to.

We should, however, want to be smarter. Or at least I did after journeying into the world of Will Shortz, the crossword puzzle editor at The New York Times. Known to millions as NPR's "Puzzle Master," Shortz (pictured, at left) has spent his entire lifetime studying, creating, and editing puzzles, and has built a huge following along the way.

Wordplay introduces us to Shortz's diehard fans – which include President Bill Clinton, Sen. Bob Dole, The Daily Show's Jon Stewart, the Indigo Girls, and New York Yankee Mike Mussina – and lets us in on why more than 50 million Americans do crossword puzzles every week.

It also takes us to Stamford, CT, where the annual American Crossword Puzzle Tournament has been held for almost 30 years. Hosted and directed by Shortz, the tournament is the nation's oldest and largest crossword competition – and a true battle for almost 500 competitors.

I remember solving crossword puzzles with my dad once upon a time, so Wordplay proved most enjoyable. It also proved to be an eye-opener: I’m not very smart…at least crossword puzzle-smart. But if this documentary had been a high-stakes pop culture quiz, then perhaps I would’ve had a shot at figuring out some of the clues with the people on screen.

Either way, Wordplay is a three-letter word for a good time. So is The Devil Wears Prada (seriously… it may be a little too I've-seen-it-done-before-yet but it is effective, and any movie that features two Madonna songs, "Jump" and "Vogue," is fine by me).

My Rating *** (for both)

Photos: 20th Century Fox (The Devil Wears Prada); IFC Films (Wordplay).

Back to the Super

Director Bryan Singer and screenwriters Michael Dougherty and Dan Harris (X2: X-Men United) picked a pretty self-explanatory title to tell this new chapter in the story of Superman, arguably the world’s favorite superhero, and his alter ego Clark Kent.

Following a mysterious absence of five years, Superman (played by newcomer Brandon Routh) has indeed returned to Earth. It is without further ado and with great wide-eyed pleasure that I declare Superman Returns a triumphant homecoming for a dear friend.

The movie picks up right where the Christopher Reeve-starring Superman (1978) and Superman II (1980) left off. As we know, the Man of Steel was born on Krypton, a planet that is no longer, and was raised by adoptive parents on a farm in Kansas.

Having adopted his Clark Kent persona, working at the Daily Planet in Metropolis and pining after his beloved Lois Lane (Blue Crush’s Kate Bosworth), Superman has made it his mission to fight for "truth, justice, and all that stuff."

But when scientists discovered what they believed could be Krypton, Superman had to see it for himself, and so he left Earth.

While he was gone, crime rose in Metropolis and everywhere else, and Lois Lane moved on with her life. She wrote the Pulitzer Prize-winning editorial "Why the World Doesn’t Need Superman," got engaged to quite a man, and had a son who is about 5.

Oh, and his archenemy, Lex Luthor (Kevin Spacey), was sprung from prison dead-set on using Superman's secrets for his own personal gain and glory. Talk about coming home to a mess!

As I said, though, if anyone can rise above these challenges – in this case literally – it is our Superman. And that he does in Superman Returns, a terrific superhero movie with enough action and gravitas to restore an iconic character to glory.

Routh fills the famous Superman suit beautifully (and that’s not a take on his good looks…or maybe it is, come to think about it), and makes the character his own. He may not be as imposing as Reeve was when he donned it just yet, but I am looking forward to seeing Routh grow into the role.

The same goes for Bosworth as Lois Lane, who had to win me over more than anyone would have thought it (let me just say that, from the movie’s trailer, I had issues with her hair, if you will).

The story is – and I’m loosely quoting Singer – quite the "chick flick," told as much from Superman/Clark Kent’s perspective as from Lois Lane’s.

By not dwelling for too long, if at all, in our hero’s dual personality, Singer manages to deal rather nicely with the issue at hand – the Man of Steel’s return – and set up the story for future exploration of this particular conflict (and you know there will be sequels).

The one thing I could say the movie lacked was a show-stopping fight between Superman and Lex Luthor.

The epic battle between good and evil that ought to have accompanied this epic return is all-too brief and perhaps somewhat unremarkable (then again, for as much a threat as Lex Luthor is, dealing with his mischief is more pressing, so I’ll let this slide for now).

Seeing Superman return is like seeing a good old friend come back into our lives. The world is much different from when we first met him, but I’m glad to see he isn’t.

My Rating ***1/2

Photo: Warner Bros.

R.I.P. Mr. Spelling

Aaron Spelling, the record-setting producer of countless TV guilty pleasures, including Charlie’s Angels, Dynasty, Beverly Hills, 90210, Melrose Place, and Charmed, passed away yesterday at age 83. He had suffered a stroke last Sunday, but remained under at doctor’s care in his home in Los Angeles.

Wife Candy and son Randy were at his side at the time of his death, though daughter Tori was reportedly not present. Her portrayal of her parents in her semi-autobiographical VH-1 comedy series, so noTORIous, is believed to have caused a months-long rift between the erstwhile Donna Martin and them, though People reports that she had reconciled with her father.

Photo: CBSNews.com.

Craving a Small but Tasty Treat This Season?

I know you are all waiting for the return of the Man of Steel next Wednesday. Having seen the small little production already, I can almost guarantee that the wait will be well worth it, as the return of Superman is a crowd-pleaser that will appeal to the wide-eyed child within everyone on this planet.

So – tee hee – buck up, and wait just a few more days.

I ask you to wait because that is what you’ll have to do if you want to watch Strangers with Candy, a prequel to the critically acclaimed Comedy Central 1999-2000 series that opens in New York on the same day as Superman Returns.

For this reason alone you so need to check it out. Amy Sedaris, the series and movie’s co-creator and star, is not only one heck of a funny lady (as evidenced by her appearance on last night’s Late Show with David Letterman) – she is also a brave one.

The movie follows the story of Jerri Blank, a 46 year-old ex-junkie and ex-con who emerges from her long prison stay with a special goodbye prison riot with her cellmates and returns to high school in a bid to start her life over, only to confront the most dangerous gang of all – the cool kids.

After a long bus ride, Jerri arrives at her childhood home to find that her father is now in a coma and has re-married and fathered a child. Although mortified by her stepdaughter's return, his new wife begrudgingly allows Jerri to move in when the family doctor suggests that her presence might bring her father out of his 32-year coma.

Hilarity ensues.

Strangers with Candy co-creators Stephen Colbert and Paul Dinello also appear, while Sarah Jessica Parker, Justin Theroux (Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle), Matthew Broderick, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Ian Holm, and Allison Janney cameo.

Photo: ThinkFilm.

Cannes, Schmannes – I Can’t Wait for Southland Tales

In May, the director of the cult sensation Donnie Darko, Richard Kelly, premiered his latest, Southland Tales, at the Cannes Film Festival. Recently, Entertainment Weekly reported in its online Pop Watch that the screening "went over badly."

The dispatch went over to say that people in the audience hated the film, and that with few exceptions, the reviews were "eviscerating, with what seems like an emphasis on the word ‘incomprehensible.’" Didn’t critics say the same about Donnie Darko?

And yet, I can’t wait to see Southland Tales. (The film doesn’t have a domestic distributor yet, and, given its reception, it seems unlikely it will be shown in America as it was in Cannes.)

I sure hope it does get picked up, if anything because Kelly fans will want to see just what he has done with his ensemble cast, which includes The Rock, Seann William Scott, Sarah Michelle Gellar, former SNL MVP Cheri Oteri, Justin Timberlake, Mandy Moore, and Miranda Richardson, among others.

The story, written by Kelly, sounds like a humdinger. Set in L.A. in 2008 during a three-day heat wave just before a huge 4th of July celebration, an amnesia-stricken action star meets up with an adult film star developing her own reality television project and a police officer who holds the key to a vast conspiracy.

Incomprehensible or not, Southland Tales sounds rather original. For an industry that likes to ascribe filmmakers words like "auteur" and "visionary," Hollywood would prove itself terrible shortsighted if it didn’t let Kelly show his audience the film he wanted to make.

Photo: Impawards.net.

Britney Wants Us to Leave Her Alone, Y'all!

I got super inside word today that while everyone was buzzing about Britney Spears’ not-going-to-happen birthing trip to Namibia and her semi-moving waterworks display on Dateline (for the hard-hitting-and-never-glib Matt Lauer and the world’s sake), Madonna's onetime kissing buddy had private-jetted it into Miami for a quick family getaway.

I guess she needed it after excellently channeling the cheap drag queen within on TV – that makeup…those awful hair extensions…and that chipped nail polish! Yuck.

I mean, whatever happened to the Britney of yesteryear (check her out at right)? Pop tart needs to hire herself a stylist to help her look youthful, fresh, and fun once more, already!

Anyway, she and her scrub husband, Kevin Federline, a.k.a. K-Fed (seriously?), arrived in town for him to promote his upcoming CD (first Paris, and now him...the end must be near) and are expected to hit South Beach nightclub Mansion tonight for a good friend of theirs’ birthday bash.

The two, and baby Sean Preston (no word on whether they brought their "manny" along for the trip), were the picture of happiness at the beach yesterday (Spears did tell Lauer that life with Federline is, "awesome").

People magazine has a couple of pictures on their website, which you can see here and here.

Hey, if it makes her happy. She did tell us it was her prerogative, y'all.

Photo: Amazon.com.

Update: Britney didn't show up at Mansion, but K-Fed sure did (and played DJ for the crowd, which even for this pseudo-celeb is much too cliché). Rent's Taye Diggs also turned up at the club, sans wife Idina Menzel, though (do they ever do anything fun like this together?).

Whom Would You Hang With This Weekend?

Opening this weekend is Nacho Libre, a movie I’ve been anticipating for quite a while now.

In the movie, Jack Black plays Ignacio (his friends call him Nacho), a Mexican friar who moonlights as a lucha libre wrestler to raise money for his orphanage (and to impress a woman).

If the trailer was any indication, this is going to be a really fun time at the movie theater. (Nacho Libre was co-written, with School of Rock’s Mike White and Jerusha Hess, and directed by Napoleon Dynamite’s Jared Hess, so expect irreverence and hilarious maladjustment galore.)

Slowing things down a little bit is a couple who first captivated us more than 10 years ago in Speed.

In The Lake House, Sandra Bullock plays an in independent-minded doctor who once occupied an unusual lakeside home – and who has begun exchanging love letters with its newest resident, a frustrated architect (played by Keanu Reeves).

When they discover that they are actually living two years apart, they must try to unravel the mystery behind their extraordinary mailbox before it is too late – but for what?

The movie’s trailer had me hooked me the second I heard the hypnotic “Somewhere Only We Know” by Keane, even though it left me thinking it may turn up to be a bit too Frequency-ish.

Finally, the Sydney Pollack-helmed Sketches of Frank Gehry takes a look at the life and work of the renowned architect. The biodoc features commentary by, among others, Julian Schnabel, Dennis Hopper, Bob Geldof, Milton Wexler, and Gehry himself.

So whom will you hang with this weekend? Will it be a funny wrestler, a reunited couple, or a master architect?

Photos: Paramount Pictures (Nacho Libre); Warner Bros. (The Lake House).

Could This Be Another Sign of the End of the World?

Well…it’s happened. We finally get to see and hear a side of Paris Hilton we haven’t yet as the heir-head tries her hand at singing.

Seriously, the four horsemen can’t be all that far behind, right (and I don’t mean that in a naughty way!).

Her first single, the reggae-lite "Stars Are Blind" is out, and though my first impression was, "Uh, can you say overproduced Gwen Stefani wannabe?" I have to admit the song is pretty darn catchy. It's lyrically mediocre at best and outstandingly poor at...not its best. It's probably going to be huge.

By the way, I caught a phone interview between Hilton and Miami’s Y-100.7 FM last week, in which the celebutante said it took her this long to get the record done and out because, "I was shy."

You don’t say. I guess there’s nothing like a semi-steamy sex tape with another gal's hubby to take the edge off, though.

And get this – she announced that she's going on a European tour soon, which, naturally, "is going to be really hot."

You've been warned. Now check out her new video in which she frolics on the beach with a hot stud while vamping it up like only she can.

Photo: AOL Music.

Psst…She Has Something to Say to You

Warner Bros. Records announced today that I’m Going to Tell You a Secret, Madonna’s provocative documentary of her stunning and highly acclaimed “Re-Invention Tour” of 2004, is scheduled to be released on June 20.

Madonna is currently in the middle of the American leg of her Confessions Tour.

Helmed by Jonas Åkerlund (the director of her "Ray of Light" and "Music" videos), I’m Going to Tell You a Secret gives us an up close and personal view of the artist’s daily life while out on the road. It also features beautifully filmed sequences of the undisputed Queen of Pop performing some of hits both old ("Vogue," “Like a Prayer”) and new ("Nobody Knows Me”) and a profoundly moving version of the John Lennon hit "Imagine."

You can read my review here.

Photo: Amazon.com.

Eclectic Cast Voices New Animated Film this Christmas

In Luc Besson’s upcoming Arthur and the Minimoys, 10-year-old Arthur has a lot on his plate: a real estate developer is about to snap up his grandma's home – and there's no way Arthur is going to just hang around and see this happen.

In a bid to save the house from being demolished, Arthur (Charlie and the Chocolate Factory’s Freddie Highmore) goes to the "other side," looking for his grandpa’s much-fabled hidden treasure in the land of the Minimoys, a tiny people living in harmony with nature.

There, Arthur meets Princess Selenia (voiced by this icon) and her brother, and together they set off to look for the treasure that will save his beloved grandma’s home.

Arthur and the Minimoys is scheduled to arrive in theaters this Christmas. It co-stars Mia Farrow and also features the voices of David Bowie and Snoop Dogg.

Photo: Actuacine.net.

What the Reviews – and I – Say About The Break-Up He Said/She Said

Dubbed the movie starring pop culture phenomenon Vaughniston, a.k.a. Vince Vaughn and Jennifer Aniston, The Break-Up follows the story of Gary and Brooke, a Chicago couple who, after two years together, break up but stay together as neither will movie out of the condo they co-own together.

I finally caught The Break-Up last night. I wanted to last weekend, but to be honest the poor reviews kept me away. But when I heard that a couple of exes had gotten in the way of a bunch of X-Men’s hopes of a second week of top moneymaking, I knew that I’d broken up with Vaughniston much too soon.

I know – could I be any shallower!

I have to say, though, having finally seen the movie, I really don’t get why other critics found The Break-Up to be "broken," "dull and trivial," or "a mess" – in other words, "a major disappointment."

I found it to be quite funny (at least the first 50 minutes or so), and rather authentic (throughout and especially the other 50 minutes), if a bit long.

This isn’t your typical romantic comedy – both Vaughn and Aniston said so while doing press – because it has a twist to it. The reason, I believe, most critics and some in the audience have found the movie disappointing is they’ve been spoiled by years of romantic comedies ending wrapped up in a bow.

That’s just not real – people don’t get the happy ending as often as their cinematic counterparts do. The movie is supposed to be messy, and Gary and Brooke are supposed to be "unsympathetic" and "squabble and snarl" because that’s what people do when they reach the end of the love road.

I will be the first to tell you that movies ought to be escapism at its finest. But the movie is called The Break-Up. Enjoy it – odds are it’ll be the only one you ever will.

Photo: Universal Pictures.

Get to It, TV Fans!

Every year, the lovely and intrepid Kristin Veitch over at E! Online gives couch potatoes everywhere the chance to nominate our favorite actors and shows of the past season for a Tater Top Award.

This is by far the coolest award and quite possibly the highest honor an actor can receive because it comes from us, the people who tune in week after week.

That, and it’s a really good way to show the good people at the Emmys (and to a lesser degree the Golden Globes and Screen Actors Guild Awards) which shows ought to be recognized.

Past Tater Top winners include oft-snubbed actors like Gilmore Girls’ Lauren Graham and Scrubs’ Zach Braff, as well as cult favorites the Emmys have consistently failed to even acknowledge, like Alias, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and Veronica Mars.

So props to Kristin for, yet again, giving us a fantastic chance to show our appreciation to the cancelled-to-soon Invasion and the sure-to-be-missed Arrested Development, the I-have-yet-to-check-it-out Battlestar Galactica, as well as bona fide hits Grey’s Anatomy and 24.

Get voting!

Photo: ABC.com (Grey's Anatomy).

An Inconvenient Truth That Warrants a Necessary Look

In the new documentary An Inconvenient Truth, Al Gore, the man who, as he puts it, "used to be the next president of the United States," takes an uncompromising look at the hot topic (no pun intended) of global warming.

The movie is quite informative and compelling (this in spite of Gore’s rather robotic yet concise presentation of facts). Once everything was said and done, though, I couldn’t help but feel as though the former vice president offered little in the way of a somewhat concrete solution.

Yes, we can all help reverse what human activity has created. But is it too little, too late?

And was Gore pointing the finger (not only at the current administration, but also at those who came before and the choices they had and continue to have to make)?

Of course he was – and he is to be applauded and supported for it. Clearly, the planet’s well being is an issue for which Gore has tremendous passion and concern.

Having seen him vigorously fight the decision that kept him from taking office in 2000 (America really elected him, after all), I cannot help but hope to think that Earth has a good advocate in him. We should all try and do our part as well.

Our future is in our hands – we just need to let go of our gas-guzzling SUVs (or at least pay attention when we drive them) and begin to take better care of our environment to ensure that the next generations don’t suffer the consequences of post-modern life’s indiscriminate pollution.

Gore has traveled the world delivering a presentation on the global climate change and its effects. As the title of the movie reveals, this issue is an inconvenient truth that indeed warrants a necessary looking into.

Yet, I’d still like to ask Gore just what can we all really do about this common problem of ours. Is this not a problem that the governments of the world can handle (better)? Can you and I really effect change in our world?

Of course we can – and we must. The truth is every little bit really does help.

My Rating ***

Photo: Paramounts Classics.

Dawn of the Bond

Have you seen the trailer for Casino Royale (Nov. 17) yet?

Well, get to it!

As you may or may not know, Casino Royale examines James Bond's formative years, as he goes from being a mere "blunt instrument" to become one of finest double-0 agents to ever serve on Her Majesty’s secret service.

Playing Bond this time around is the smoldering Daniel Craig (Enduring Love, Layer Cake) a mighty fine, if controversial, choice of an actor, if you ask me.

After watching this trailer, I’ve only got three letters to describe him and the revitilization of the franchise: H. O. T.

Photo: MGM/Columbia Pictures.

Brittany Murphy on Video for DJ Paul Oakenfold

In April, I told you about how Brittany Murphy’s singing aspirations had materialized, as she purrs her way into the music scene with "Faster Kill Pussycat," one of the tracks on DJ Paul Oakenfold’s "A Lively Mind," which also features Pharrell Williams and Spitfire.

Well now the hot track has a hot video to go with it. Check it out here – I really think that this song can be huge this summer.

Who would have thought it; I mean, as I mentioned in a previous post, I used to find Murphy rather annoying way back when she was making her way in Hollywood.

But now…now, much like her, I’m singing a new tune, and thinking that she just may be (once again?) the It Girl of the season – and for singing, no less!

Photo: Amazon.com

The Emmys Are Coming!

TV Guide published its Dream Emmy Ballot last week – yes, it’s that time of the year again.

I was thrilled that they remembered to single out Arrested Development and The Comeback’s Lisa Kudrow; gave a nod to The Office’s John Krasinski and two 24 supporting players; and continued to show their support for Gilmore Girls’ Lauren Graham and Veronica Mars’ Kristen Bell.

Yet, I cannot help but add my two cents.

Why was there no mention of Invasion? Sure, the show’s been cancelled, and considering this it should probably be recognized in the writing category at the Emmys, of which TV Guide made no prediction.

After all, Invasion boasted some of the most intriguing, albeit frustratingly slow-paced at times, storytelling I have seen on TV in recent years, though, and I am going to miss it so. A nice shout-out would've been very cool.

And where were HBO’s Extras and Rome?

I love TV Guide, and I live for columnist Michael Ausiello (not to play favorites, Kristin Veitch over on E! Online is also a weekly must read).

I love that they singled out quality television (Grey’s Anatomy, Scrubs, The Office, My Name Is Earl, Weeds, Entourage, Lost, The Closer). And I love that they fairly gave nods (or not) to the show(s) that will unsurprisingly score by the boatload when actual nominations are announced July 6 (Desperate Housewives, I’m looking at you!).

But couldn't they have at least mentioned some of the other deserving shows of the past season?

Photo: UPN (Veronica Mars).

X-Men's Last Stand Just as X-cellent as Previous Efforts

I saw director Brett Ratner's X-Men: The Last Stand last night and I thought it was pretty good.

I really don't understand why a significant contingent of insiders out in Hollywood made it its mission to challenge the studio's decision to replace original helmer Bryan Singer (who opted to do the upcoming Superman Returns instead) with the guy who gave us the Rush Hour movies. After all, most of the same people were really far up Ratner's you-know-what in praise once.

I’ve met the guy (we talked for After the Sunset) and he could not have been any cooler. Sure, you can tell that this X movie didn’t involve the exact same team, but that is not to say it’s any less entertaining or satisfying. If anything, the movie has a different sensitivity, which only adds to the sense of urgency its plot calls for.

The Last Stand certainly stands apart, tonally at least, from Singer's efforts. It caps off the trilogy nicely in terms of tying loose ends from X-Men and X2: X-Men United, tells its own story, and sets the stage for potential sequels (though the studio doesn't really have any plans for a fourth chapter anytime soon but rather a Wolverine spin-off).

As you probably know, in this movie a vaccine to "cure" mutants has been developed – but can you really fix a gene (in this case the X gene) that makes you who you are? Anyway, it gives mutants a choice: they can retain their gifts, as Professor Charles Xavier (Patrick Stewart, pictured on set with Ratner) and his students call their powers, or give them up to become human.

But while Xavier understands why some mutants would consider this option – Rogue (Anna Paquin), I’m looking at you – the always-contrary Magneto (Ian McKellen) believes this "cure" is nothing but an opportunity for humans to obliterate all mutants.

And so, opposing viewpoints set the stage for one more battle, as Wolverine (Hugh Jackman), Storm (Halle Berry), Iceman (Shawn Ashmore), newcomers Angel (Six Feet Under's Ben Foster), Kitty Pryde (Hard Candy’s Ellen Page), and Beast (Kelsey Grammer) take a stand against Magneto and his Brotherhood.

What I will reveal at this point – the only thing I will reveal, actually – is that perhaps Ratner's movie lacks the sort of offbeat humor that was as predominant in Singer's entries as was the action, though it is there. As is the Dark Phoenix storyline (ish). And loss. There is loss in this one. Sad loss.

Having said this, in terms of mythology, I don't know much about what kind of research went into the script, but I was glad to recognize certain aspects from the animated series of the late-1990s. I’m confident that the X franchise will be revisited sometime soon in the future.

Photo: 20th Century Fox.

This Summer, the World Is Madonna's Dance Floor

Tomorrow, Madonna embarks on her "Confessions Tour" in Los Angeles, for which she promises to "pull out all the stops" as she makes her way across major U.S. cities (including Las Vegas, Phoenix, Chicago, Boston, New York, and Miami), Canada, Europe, and Japan.

Yet I cannot help but wonder if perhaps it’s too much too soon. After all, her hit "Reinvention Tour" was only two years ago. Is it really necessary for her to tour again after a couple of summers?

"I'm going to turn the world into one big dance floor," Madonna said back in April when the tour was announced. (Oh, yeah? Then how come there’s no South America or Australia on the schedule?) Surely, if anyone can do this it is the Queen of Pop, who at 47 has never looked or sounded better.

Am I excited about the tour? You bet your leotard I am.

Don’t get me wrong, I love that she’s coming to town. I just think that Madonna could’ve spent a little more time building up the success of her last album, Confessions on a Dance Floor, stateside, before touring, since it was such a smash hit everywhere else.

For one, she should not have waited four months between the release, as singles, of the catchy "Hung Up" and "Sorry." Why was that? Oh, and get this – she's not releasing "Get Together" until the end of July.

And why hasn’t she tapped into some sort of advertisement tie-in for "Jump"?

These aren’t questions that only I am thinking about. Other fans are, too.

Also, since the whole premise of the "Confessions Tour" is to make the world into "one big dance floor," why has she reportedly included the undeniably slow numbers "Live to Tell," Drowned World/Substitute for Love," and "Paradise (Not for Me)" on the set list?

(Hey, at least she's doing "Like a Virgin" – I should just shut my trap, even though she's not doing "Holiday" for the first time ever – and who knows, perhaps she's re-invented those numbers for this tour.)

Again, Madonna can do whatever she wants (as she does remarkably well so often); I’ll try to be there to dance and sing, get up, and do my thing. But, couldn’t she have included more upbeat, dance-y songs like "Physical Attraction," "Love Profusion," "Everybody," and "Keep It Together" in this upcoming outing?

In the end, none of it really matters – the "Confessions Tour" will be the hottest ticket this summer. I just wish I didn’t have all these questions. It’s called anticipation, I suppose, which is something Madonna still manages to create every step of the way.

P.S.: Rumor has it that Guy Ritchie will accompany the missus on the road, and that he will document the tour on film à la Truth or Dare and I'm Going to Tell You a Secret. Not for nothing, but that sounds like a really cool rumor.

Photo: CBSNews.com.

New Sept. 11 Movie Trailer Debuts Today

FYI: If you go to see The Da Vinci Code, be warned the trailer for director Oliver Stone's World Trade Center, debuts today.

Due out Aug. 9, the movie comes on the heels of United 93.

It follows the true story of Officer Will Jimeno (Crash's Michael Peña) and Sgt. John McLoughlin (Nicolas Cage), two Port Authority police officers who rushed into one of the burning towers on Sept. 11 to help rescue people, but became trapped themselves when the tower collapsed.

The movie co-stars Maggie Gyllenhaal and Maria Bello as Jimeno and McLouglin's wives, respectively.

Photo: Paramount Pictures.

For Fun Go Over the Hedge

Spring has sprung in DreamWorks Animation’s Over the Hedge, a cute and funny and smart and vibrantly animated movie that’s sure to appeal to both kids and adults just the same.

I know I liked it – a lot.

Since M:i:III is being touted a Tom Cruise disappointment, Poseidon pretty much sunk (and stunk), and The Da Vinci Code got mixed-to-bad buzz off its Cannes premiere, I’m guessing Over the Hedge is going to be this season’s first bona fide critical and commercial hit.

The movie follows the adventures of tortoise Verne and his woodland critter friends as they awaken from their long winter's nap…to discover that a tall, green "thing" has mysteriously cropped up right through the middle of their home.

Enter RJ (voiced by a terrific Bruce Willis), an opportunistic raccoon, who explains that the world beyond the hedge is the "gateway to the good life," where peculiar creatures called humans live to eat, rather than eat to live.

Suspicious and even a little jealous of RJ, the ever-cautious Verne (voiced by Garry Shandling) wants to keep his melting-pot family – which includes an overprotective possum and his daughter, a self-conscious skunk, and an ADD-addled squirrel – safely on their side of the hedge.

But, proving the adage that one man's garbage is another man's – or rather animal's – treasure, the manipulative RJ tries to convince the band that there is little to fear and everything to gain from their over-indulgent new neighbors. (RJ, of course, has an agenda of his own.)

Eventually, though, RJ and Verne form an unlikely friendship as they learn to co-exist with – and even exploit – this strange new world called suburbia.

As you can imagine, Over the Hedge is filled with messages for kids (family and friendship are important, as is honesty and teamwork) and adults (slow down, take a moment to enjoy what you have).

It is really quite easy to get over any of this because the woodland creature’s adventures as so amusing – there are hearty laughs for all.

Not to mention, the talent voicing them is tremendously entertaining – Wanda Sykes as Stella the skunk and Steve Carell (go The Office!) as Hammy the squirrel are especially noteworthy.

My Rating ****

Photo: DreamWorks Animation.

Poseidon Sinks; You Don't Have To

What would summer be without a remake or a disaster movie – after all, both genres offer distinct possibilities for a fun time, which is kind of the point of summer to begin with, no? But what do you get when you flatly combine the two (this is too easy)?

A disaster of a remake, that's what.

I told ya it was too easy.

You know what Poseidon (a remake of Irwin Allen’s The Poseidon Adventure of 1972) is all about, though, so you can see where I’m going with this.

When a rogue wave capsizes the titular luxury cruise ship in the middle of the North Atlantic Ocean, a small group of survivors finds itself forming an unlikely alliance in a battle for their lives.

You’ve got the reluctant hero (Josh Lucas), who ignores the captain's orders to wait below for possible rescue and sets out to find his own way to safety.

There’s also a desperate father (Kurt Russell) searching for his daughter (The Day After Tomorrow’s Emmy Rossum) and her fiancé (Rumor Has It’s Mike Vogel), a single mother (Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason’s Jacinda Barrett’s and her wise-beyond-his-years son, an anxious stowaway (Mia Maestro, from TV’s Alias) and a depressed gay man (Richard Dreyfuss).

Determined to fight their way to the surface, the group sets off through the disorienting maze of twisted steel, making their way up the upside down wreckage as the unstable ship rapidly fills with water.

I never had any high expectations for Poseidon, which was directed by disaster-meister Wolfgang Petersen (The Perfect Storm, The Day After Tomorrow). It being a disaster summer movie (though not one of Petersen’s most satisfying), I expected it to be an edge-of-you-seat thrill ride.

Instead, I found it derivative, clumsily edited (especially in the beginning) and written (character development is telegraphed at best, though it is clear that someone really likes Lucas in hero mode), and often cheap-looking (the opening shot reminded me of a beyond enhanced – read faux – architectural rendition). The body count is well-paced, though.

Having said this, Poseidon will probably make a boatload of money at the box office, precisely because it is so mindless. The biggest star of this movie is the rogue wave, of course. It’s too bad that she comes and goes much too quickly.

My Rating **

Photo: Warner Bros.

Lindsay Lohan's Living in the Fastlane...So Try to Keep Up

I really like La Lohan, and I am not ashamed to say so.

I think she's really hot and really talented. I have both of her CDs (Speak and A Little More Personal (Raw)...got 'em!), which I listen and dance to every week – I even got to tell her so at last year's MTV VMAs – and I've seen all of her movies (Mean Girls is so fetch!).

So I'm really looking forward to catching this Friday's Just My Luck and A Prairie Home Companion (June 9). The latter is a Robert Altman-directed ensemble indie, while the former is Lohan's first romantic comedy, in which she plays Ashley, the luckiest woman in the world, whose good fortune is swapped for a handsome stranger’s terrible misfortune after the two share a kiss.

What I like the most about her is that even on a kind-of-grumpy morning like today, Lohan's still more enthralling than most starletbots. That's because she's got more moxie and sass of the charming kind, which is why the tabloids spread rumors about her and what not.

I'm not saying she's perfect. But any gal that can not just say "It's like, Yeah, motherf---er, I'm fine" (to her detractors in the now infamous Vanity Fair cover story), but also get her point across, is a fine gal in my book. And a fun one at that (I've seen her party – sorry...nothing scandalous to report about that occasion).

Photo: 20th Century Fox.

Your Weekend’s Mission: Heart Keri Russell

I just know you’re probably wondering, Keri who?

Well…we can’t all be in the loop.

Russell, best know to many as the titular fickle pickle from the dearly departed WB show Felicity, is, in no short measure, the catalyst to what transpires in Mission: Impossible III.

A catalyst, per Dictionary.com, is a substance, usually used in small amounts relative to the reactants, that modifies and increases the rate of a reaction without being consumed in the process.

Such is Russell’s presence in M:i:III, and as it has been in other movies before it (most recently in the overlooked The Upside of Anger). Even in the smallest of roles, she elevates her co-stars’ game while remaining memorable and quietly powerful and revealing new things about her talent along the way (she kicks it good in a ballistic action scene).

Russell’s a star, and seeing her shine brighter and brighter every year, slowly but surely, is fascinating, heartwarming, and just a little bit frustrating (because she should be everywhere by now – but she’s much too low key for that...unlike some people...and I love her for it). So your mission this weekend, should you choose to accept it, is to discover her.

This should be easy.

M:i:III finds IMF agent Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) retired from active duty, though he has remained involved with the agency to train new recruits (like the one played by Russell). Hunt is drawn back into action when Owen Davian (Capote’s Philip Seymour Hoffman), a conscienceless international weapons and information provider, hits too close to home and eventually kidnaps his unaware fiancée (Michelle Monaghan).

As mentioned in a previous thread, J.J. Abrams (the mastermind behind TV’s Felicity, Alias, and Lost), making his feature-film directorial debut here, has revitalized the franchise by showing us what Hunt is up to when not in spy mode.

He an co-writers Alex Kurtzman and Robert Orci (both Alias vets) have done a terrific job at balancing the respective cerebral and visual elements of the first Impossible movies to complement them with a much-needed jolt of character development that should help ensure another Mission for Hunt.

As a result, M:i:III is, for those familiar with Abrams’ oeuvre, quite Alias-ish (the music was even composed by longtime collaborator Michael Giacchino, and look, there's frequent Abrams player Greg Grunberg), perhaps a bit too much.

I have seen Jennifer Garner try to compartmentalize her spy work with her personal life and go on missions that were on the impossible side on TV. In this movie, Cruise’s Hunt goes through a lot of the same things Garner’s Sydney Bristow has, so, and strictly speaking as an Alias and Abrams fan, M:i:III isn’t the most original.

It’s still a lot of fun, though, as Hunt and his team – including his old friend Luther Strickell (Ving Rhames), transportation expert Declan (Match Point’s Jonathan Rhys Meyers), and background operative Zhen (newcomer Maggie Q) – travel the globe to save the day.

And, really, I’ll watch Russell in anything she is in, however short her screen time is (she and Abrams were much more a selling point than Cruise and his over-the-top promotional tour could’ve ever been).

She truly is the match that sparks the M:i:III fuse (cue in the theme song), one that should burn nicely into blockbusterdom. Now go on and complete your mission.

My Rating ***

Photo: Paramount Pictures.

This Summer’s Leading Man is…Nacho Libre!

So I went to see Mission: Impossible III last night.

I liked it very much – J.J. Abrams (TV's Alias, Lost) has done a terrific job at balancing the respective cerebral and visual elements of the first Impossible movies and complementing them with a much-needed jolt of character development that should help ensure another Mission for Tom Cruise’s Ethan Hunt.

That, and M:i:III is, for those familiar with Abrams’ oeuvre, the closest thing to an Alias movie that we will – and should – ever come close to getting…but more on that Friday.

Before the movie started, though, I got to watch the trailer for the upcoming Jack Black release Nacho Libre, which up to that moment I had pretty much paid zilch attention to.

I can now honestly say that I cannot wait for Nacho Libre, in which Black stars as Ignacio (his friends call him Nacho), a Mexican priest who moonlights as a lucha libre wrestler to raise money for his orphanage, to open on June 16.

So funny!

I mean, just take a look at the poster. Now take a look at the trailer. Now tell me that Nacho Libre is not the leading man of summer.

You can’t, can ya?

Didn’t think so.

Photo: Paramount Pictures.

If You Don’t Catch United 93…

This weekend sees the “controversial” opening of director Paul (Bloody Sunday, The Bourne Supremacy) Greengrass’ United 93, a drama that tells the story of the passengers and crew, their families on the ground, and the flight controllers who watched in dawning horror as United Airlines Flight 93 became the fourth hijacked plane on Sept. 11, 2001. Is it too soon for such a film to arrive in movie theaters across the nation? Is Hollywood sensationalizing a thoroughly painful and recent event?

My answers are no and it depends.

I do not believe it is too soon to be reminded of a tragedy that changed the course of our lives – especially considering that its effects are still very much felt today. And I do not think Hollywood is being opportunistic per se – the business of show is driven by profit, but something tells me that money wasn't the main goal in making this film. (Greengrass reportedly counted with the blessing of the majority of friends and family of the fallen depicted in the film.)

It goes without saying that United 93 will be a different experience for a movie watcher. The film recreates the doomed trip in actual time, from takeoff to hijacking to the realization by the passengers onboard that their plane was part of a coordinated attack unfolding on the ground beneath them. But I wholeheartedly believe that, as difficult as it may be, United 93 might be something worth looking into, if anything just to pay tribute to those who died so valiantly – and to remember that day, which is something that many pledged to do but few seem willing to.

Keeping in mind that some will not catch United 93 this weekend, here's a quick word on two films that opened wide last week – Friends with Money and The Sentinel – and that I saved for this week (options, my peeps…that’s what it’s all about).

Friends with Money is a darling and often cutting indie from Nicole Holofcener (Lovely & Amazing), starring Jennifer Aniston (playing a teacher-turned-maid), an outstanding Frances McDormand, Catherine Keener, and Joan Cusack as long-time friends dealing with life’s trials (love, marriage, money, work) in their own very different ways. Though not a fully realized movie (the character development is quite uneven), I liked Friends with Money because I found it relatable, on a basic level, and rather true (everyone has an experience).

If action is more your cup of tea, then check out The Sentinel, starring Michael Douglas as a most decorated Secret Service agent-turned-presidential assassination suspect. Kiefer Sutherland (TV’s 24) and Eva Longoria (TV’s Desperate Housewives) play two agents (a by-the-books type and a rookie, respectively) tasked with unraveling the murderous plot. 

I found The Sentinel to be a bit slow in the beginning – there is a lot of talk about action but very little of it (Longoria appears to have nothing more to do than to stand behind Sutherland in several scenes) – but ultimately the movie hits its mark.

I do wish Sutherland would take on a different type of roll (perhaps a dramedy?), as I found myself wanting, perhaps too frequently, that he channeled his Jack Bauer alter ego from 24 and took charge, already, in as much a riveting fashion as he does on TV.

My Rating **** (United 93); *** (Friends with Money); ** (The Sentinel) Photos: Universal Pictures (United 93); Sony Pictures Classics (Friends with Money); 20th Century Fox (The Sentinel).

American Dreamz

By asking its audience to “imagine a country where more people vote for a pop idol than their president,” American Dreamz, the latest from Paul Weitz, the director of American Pie and About a Boy, arrives in movie theaters this week to offer its insightful and often hilarious two cents on the state of current political and pop culture affairs.

A mordant satire of the most zeitgeist-y phenomenon in recent years (the titular Dreamz refers to the American Idol send-off around which the story and its characters gravitate), as well as the askew morals and values of American society, the movie is also a thinly-veiled homage – wink, wink – to the current administration and the politics of politics, as well as the war and the real motives behind it.

One character astutely and ambitiously points out early on (read on to figure out which one) that any idiot can be on TV nowadays. Later, another, under different circumstances, also points that any idiot can do “it” (the “it” being leading the country). Do you see where the filmmaker is going?

American Dreamz takes aim at not only these people, but also their mentality. And it is all very funny.

The movie starts on the morning of President Staton’s (a bumbling, Southern-accented Dennis Quaid) re-election. Perhaps wondering what it is all about, the president decides to read the newspapers for the first time in four years, which leads him to obsessively re-examine his black-and-white views of the world.

Holing up in his bedroom in his pajamas for days, his behavior invites press speculation of a nervous breakdown and alarms his Chief of Staff (Willem Dafoe), who figures something needs to be done. So, he decides to push the president back into the spotlight by booking him as a guest judge on the weekly talent show American Dreamz, a ratings juggernaut of which the country cannot get enough of.

This is, of course, a tremendous coup for the show, and especially for its host, the self-aggrandizing, self-loathing Martin Tweed (Hugh Grant, doing his best Simon Cowell), who is always on the lookout for the next bright young thing to turn into an instant-celebrity.

Tweed’s latest crop of hopefuls includes Sally Kendoo (Mandy Moore, turning in a finely nuanced performance that made think of her as young Michelle Pfeiffer, acting ability-wise*), a conniving steel magnolia with a hopelessly devoted, not-all-there veteran boyfriend (Chris Klein), and Omer (Sam Golzari), a recent Southern Californian immigrant (who just happens to be a show tune singing, would-be terrorist awaiting activation).

As you can very well imagine, when both Sally and Omer make it to the final round of Dreamz, the stage is set for a show the nation will not soon forget.

While American Dreamz does not trek new territory, it does a swell job at being this nice little package of timely, cutting commentary on many of the topics that so irk some of us.

It's also a fine showcase of talent – the cast includes Marcia Gay Harden as a Laura Bush type, the invaluable Jennifer Coolidge and Judy Greer (TV’s Arrested Development), Seth Meyers (SNL), and Shohreh Aghdashloo as a beyond-Americanized Middle-Eastern woman and polar opposite of the similar role she played two seasons ago on TV’s 24.

*I mean both Pfeiffer and Moore seem to thrive in roles that call for them to be slightly wicked (see the erstwhile Catwoman in White Oleander, and Moore in Saved!).

My Rating ***1/2

Photo: Universal Pictures.

La Mujer de Mi Hermano

Featuring a magnetic international leading cast (Uruguayan Bárbara Mori, Peruvian Christian Meier, and Colombian Manolo Cardona) – and simply gorgeous original music by Angelo Milli and cinematography by Andrés Sánchez – La Mujer de Mi Hermano (My Brother’s Wife) is a stylishly moody, yet unfortunately lacking, movie.

Based on a novel by controversial Peruvian author Jaime Bayly (Don’t Tell Anyone), La Mujer de Mi Hermano is an angst-y exploration of relationships (a crumbling marriage, a strained brotherly bond), and the passion and secrets that surround them. It also marks the feature-film directorial debut of Peruvian filmmaker Ricardo de Montreuil.

It is a little bit of a shame that while the movie is so beautifully looking, it is also terribly unfocused. (The movie's much too much about and essentially told from the perspective of the titular wife.) Nevertheless, the story's gripping enough – at least for the first act and most of the second.

Zoe (Mori) and Ignacio (Meier, who also starred in Don’t Tell Anyone) appear to have a wonderful marriage: They are good-looking and doing well (they live in an ultra-chic, ultra-modern home, all concrete, glass, and chrome), and, though childless, seem to really love each other.

After almost a decade of marriage, however, Zoe has come to realize that her marriage to Ignacio no longer carries the passion it once did.

Fiercely methodical – or avoidant – he will only make love his wife on Saturdays. Emotionally adrift, she's left to search for what's missing in her marriage in someone else, and soon finds it and herself seduced into the arms of Gonzalo (Cardona), her husband's carefree artist brother.

At first, Zoe becomes reinvigorated by the romance; both she and Gonzalo enjoy their many rendezvous, and he becomes a sort of confidant, offering Zoe a new perspective on her somewhat puzzling husband.

But eventually her decision spirals into a series of events that drives the three through a gauntlet of despair and resentment, as painful secrets from the past are brought up, and the time for everyone to face the truth fast approaches.

Being familiar with Bayly’s oeuvre, I can tell you that his stories are usually engrossing and very, almost too specific. (Most of them are set in his native Lima; the screen version of La Mujer de Mi Hermano is set in Mexico City – surely idiosyncrasies were lost in translation, as it were.)

By relocating the story, for not telling it from the brother-in-law's point of view, and by upping the melodrama with every twist and turn, La Mujer de Mi Hermano lacks energy, and finds its mood less invigorated by plot than by passionate performances.

My Rating **1/2

Photo: Lionsgate Films.

Brittany Murphy Purrs in Song – And I Likey!

Looking back on the first time I heard that actress Brittany Murphy (at right, with a “Don’t say I can’t or I’ll cut you!” look) wanted to pursue a singing career, I probably thought to myself, “Oh, great: another pretentious starlet wanting to bite on more than she can chew.”

Figuratively speaking, of course, as we have seen Murphy shrink from frumpy Tai in Clueless to scary-skinny leading lady in Uptown Girls and Little Black Book by way of edgier – and better – fare like 8 Mile and Sin City.

I think the news came way back in the early 2000s, at a time when Murphy was doing her very best at coming off as annoying, hanging from Ashton Kutcher’s neck, appearing in forgettable movies but making the most of them (“I’ll never tell…”), and running her mouth on how much she wanted to play Janis Joplin in one of the long-gestating biopic projects on the legendary “Piece of My Heart” singer.

Well, now comes the (surprisingly welcome) news that Murphy’s singing aspirations have materialized, as she is featured in “Faster Kill Pussycat,” one of the tracks on DJ Paul Oakenfold’s latest release, A Lively Mind (in stores June 6).

Check out the hot track here. All I can say is Faster Sing Brittany!

Photo: Dimension Films (Sin City).

Thank You for Smoking

In the wickedly humorous and smartly poignant Thank You for Smoking – (son of Ghostbusters director Ivan) Jason Reitman’s satirical feature-length directorial debut, based on Christopher Buckley’s 1994 novel – Aaron Eckhart plays a sly tobacco industry lobbyist who oh-so effectively spins on behalf of cigarettes while trying to remain a role model for his 12-year-old son Joey (Birth’s Cameron Bright).

The star-making role calls for Eckhart to appear in just about every scene of Thank You for Smoking, and his presence is one that's both revelatory and most welcome.

How ever did Hollywood fail to sing Eckhart’s praises sooner in the same way that it is today baffles me.

Wasn’t he just the cat’s meow in such films as In the Company of Men, Erin Brockovich, and Possession? Trust me – he was, and he’s not too bad to look at, either.

More important, though, is the undeniable fact that Eckhart is a terrific actor. His comedic timing (on fine display in Smoking) is just as impressive as is his talent for conveying, with just one look, ruggedly smug son-of-a-bitch-ness (see Company of Men) or a hint of fear (also on display in Smoking).

Up until Thank You for Smoking, however, Eckhart hadn’t had the chance to really carry his own movie (his most memorable work is perhaps his truly supporting turn as Julia Roberts’ biker boyfriend in Brockovich).

Obviously, I’m an Eckhart fan, so enough about that.

Thank You for Smoking follows the travails of Eckhart’s Nick Naylor, the official mouthpiece for the Academy of Tobacco Studies, a cigarette-funded institute dedicated to the defense and promotion of smoking.

As it happens, though, Big Tobacco is under siege. Sales among target demographics are down, and an agenda-pushing, Birkenstocks-wearing Vermont senator (William H. Macy) wants a skull-and-bones warning label affixed to every cigarette pack. This is a problem, and it is up to Nick to solve it.

So, much like a superhero (it’s Smoke Man!), Nick must wily-charm and fast-talk his way out of trouble, and so, after a quick brainstorming session with like-minded people, he travels from Washington, D.C. to Hollywood to enlist the help of a studio mogul to product-place cigarettes in movies.

This is just one of the tactics Nick will employ to clean cigarettes’ toxic rep: another calls for him to go on a talk show and debunk the cigarettes-cause-cancer theory…vis-à-vis a lung cancer patient! There is nothing Nick won’t do for his job. He loves his job – someone has to do it, right?

He knows this, and he knows people who know this, too. People like two fellow "merchants of death," alcohol lobbyist Polly Bailey (A History of Violence’s Maria Bello) and firearms lobbyist Bobby Jay Bliss (Anchorman’s David Koechner), with whom he meets regularly for dinner.

Lobbying is starting to take its toll on Nick, though. While on route to Hollywood, Nick and Joey make a stop to pay a visit to a former Marlboro Man (Sam Elliott) who's dying of cancer. The meeting, which involves a subtle bribe overheard and asked about by his son, leaves Nick feeling something new: a job-related conscience pang.

It also doesn’t help that an ambitious reporter (played by Katie Holmes – in presumably her last pre-Tom Cruise role – with that determined Joey Potter look that served her well on TV's Dawson’s Creek but not here) is dead-set on uncovering the truth behind Nick Naylor.

Thank You for Smoking works because of Eckhart and an effective cast that also includes Rob Lowe, The O.C.’s Adam Brody, and Spider-Man’s J.K. Simmons, and also because the social commentary it makes isn’t preachy but rather easy and on the mark.

Once the smoke has settled, Nick sees what’s really important, and with any luck Thank You for Smoking will help you do just this and it will surely entertain you.

My Rating ***1/2

Photo: Fox Searchlight Pictures.

Thank Goodness Sharon Stone’s Basic Instinct Is Not to “Act her Age”!

I have not yet seen Basic Instinct 2, but I already know that Sharon Stone is the only reason why I should even bother to. She is one the last few great movie stars; no matter what people say, no matter how out there she may appear, Stone's hot in every sense of the word.

(That, and word on the street is the movie’s a lemon.)

Sure, it can be argued that Stone’s sole big hit, 1992’s original Basic Instinct, is her only claim to fame, but that would be terribly myopic.

Stone’s turn as Catherine Tramell was a memorable breakthrough (one, I would imagine, quite difficult to follow up), but she has continued to bask in the glory of her Sharon Stone-ness ever since.

Her next choices proved rather eclectic, gambits that sometimes paid off (her Academy Award-nominate performance in Casino, The Muse) and oftentimes didn’t (Sliver, The Quick and the Dead, Catwoman).

Meanwhile, there she was making heads turn on many a red carpet (who could forget her inventive Gap-and-Valentino Oscar look at the 1996 Oscars, or the time she wore her husband’s shirt paired with Vera Wang to the same event a few years later).

And there she’s been passionately raising money for AIDS research and advocating gay rights. No one understands the Art of Being Sharon Stone better than Stone herself, and it takes talent to stay in the spotlight in the way she has considering how much she’s been dismissed (for instance, she became part of a hilarious Margaret Cho joke once).

Today, Stone is on a new and exciting path toward finally proving us all cynical. Last year, she appeared in Broken Flowers, in a role that earned her kind reviews from critics and the few who saw the movie.

This year, aside from Basic Instinct 2, she’s readying to open Alpha Dog and Bobby, two highly awaited ensemble indies.

Going back to Basic Instinct 2, though, a lot has been done over the fact that Stone is reprising her star-making role as the sexually charged Tramell, especially over the nudity that the movie required. Many have, in fact, said that Stone should “act her age” (she turned 48 March 10).

Talk about ageism…and sexism!

Stone's hot, and if she’s shown us anything over the years it is that she’s game.

Why wouldn’t she take it all off for a role – after all, she can! When I think of her I think of sex. I certainly wouldn’t expect her to seduce her way out of trouble in a cute cardigan; Tramell (and Stone to a certain extent) is a sexual being – hello!

Oh, but it’s not appropriate for a woman her age to show so much skin, to be sexual.

Cry me a river and eat my shorts! I think it is way more appropriate for her to do it than it is for any of the pop “stars” that have helped strip the luster off the term “star."

As long as she’s comfortable – and let’s face it, looks as hot as she does – and in control (I’m sure no one forced her to take her clothes off, which is more than the aforementioned starlets can say…and probably makes men a bit nervous), then Stone can do whatever she wants.

And for that, if nothing else, I will try and go see Basic Instinct 2.

Photo: Columbia Pictures.

MGLFF Announces Upcoming Lineup

The celebrated 8th Annual Miami Gay & Lesbian Film Festival (MGLFF), presented by Sundance Channel and Avis Rent-a-Car, announced its upcoming lineup of the best gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender films that will be featured during the 10-day Festival April 21-30.

Screenings for this year’s MGLFF will take place at Regal Cinemas South Beach, the Gusman Center for the Performing Arts, the Colony Theatre in South Beach, and the Gateway Cinemas (located in Fort Lauderdale).

MGLFF will kick-off on Friday, April 21, with the Opening Night Gala presentation and East Coast Premiere of Manuel Gòmez Pereira’s Reinas (Queens), at the Gusman Center in Downtown Miami, followed by a spectacular party presented by Karu&Y Restaurant at The Space Miami. (Director Manuel Gòmez Pereira will attend the screening to discuss the film with the audience.)

On Wednesday, April 26, the Festival will present the Centerpiece Gala and Florida Premiere screening of Whole New Thing by Amnon Buchbinder, at the Colony Theater. An after-party at the Hotel Nash, which will be transformed into a Miami Beach Cinemathèque-guided tour through multimedia artists’ work and down the darkened hallways and through the private quarters of the hotel, will follow. (Writer-director Amnon Buchbinder will attend the screening to discuss the film with the audience.)

The Festival will close on Sunday, April 30, with the Closing Night Gala and Florida Premiere screening of Todd Stephens’ hysterical comedy Another Gay Movie, featuring a star-studded cast that includes Graham Norton and Scott Thompson, at the Gusman Center. An exciting party at the historic Alfred I. Dupont Building will follow. (Director Todd Stephens and actor Darryl Stephens will attend the screening to discuss the film with the audience.)

This year, MGLFF will also pay tribute to the acclaimed independent film distributor TLA Entertainment Group, which will be presented with a special MGLFF Tribute prior to the screening of 20 Centimeters, on Saturday, April 22, at the Colony Theater. TLA Releasing will be celebrating 25 years in the industry, having released such audience favorites as Latter Days, The Fluffer, Bulgarian Lovers, and Bear Cub (Cachorro). (TLA president Raymond Murray and partners Patrick Murray, Eric Moore, Claire Brown Kohler, and Richard Wolff will attend the screening.)

The HBO Career Achievement Award will be presented this year to prolific French director François Ozon (8 Women, Swimming Pool). A one-man industry in his native country, Ozon has delivered eight features in a seven-year period. While it would be easy to assume that Ozon prefers stories that contain gay themes, the recurrence of GLBT story lines in his narratives, coupled with the director’s out status, make his mark in filmmaking fairly unusual, and thus worthy of attention and recognition. (The award will be presented on his behalf to actor Melvil Poupaud prior to the U.S. Premiere of Time to Leave, on Friday, April 28, at the Regal Cinema South Beach.)

For more information, visit www.mglff.com.

Photo: IMDb.com.

USA Today Offers Sneak Peek at Superman Returns

USA Today has a sneak peek at the upcoming Superman Returns (June 30), which includes an interview with the new Man of Steel, newcomer Brandon Routh ("Male Star of Tomorrow" according to ShoWest, the largest gathering of motion picture professionals and theatre owners from around the globe).

The real find, however, is the nifty gallery of stills from the movie, including images of a brunette Kate Bosworth (Blue Crush) as Lois Lane, and a bald Kevin Spacey as Lex Luthor.

The movie also features frequent scene-stealer Parker Posey, James Marsden (X-Men), Frank Langella, and Eva Marie Saint, and was directed by Bryan Singer (The Usual Suspects, X-Men).
To view these exciting images, click here.

Photo: Warner Bros.

Mission: Impossible III Trailer Premiere

Paramount Pictures will premiere an exclusive look at one of this summer’s most highly anticipated action-thriller, Mission: Impossible III, as Tom Cruise introduces the new trailer across MTV Networks on Thursday, March 16, during the 10 p.m.-11 p.m. block.

The movie, starring Cruise and a cast that includes recent Academy Award-winning actor Philip Seymour Hoffman (Capote), franchise veteran Ving Rhames, Michelle Monaghan (North Country), Keri Russell (TV’s Felicity), Billy Crudup, and Jonathan Rhys Meyers (Match Point), among others, was directed by J.J. Abrams, the mastermind behind TV’s Alias and Lost.

M:i:III opens on May 5.

Photo: Paramount Pictures.

Failure to Launch

The improbable happens in director Tom Dey’s Failure to Launch: Matthew McConaughey plays a "loser" who still lives at home with his folks, who in turn have had to hire Sarah Jessica Parker to help him get his act together and out the house.

Yeah – like McConaughey would have such a problem. He so probably doesn’t, which is why Failure to Launch is escapism at its semi-finest.

Amusing moments? Check. Sun-kissed, chemistry-blessed leads? Check. Satisfying resolution? Like you even have to ask!

In the movie, the reigning Sexiest Man Alive plays Trip, a ruggedly handsome thirtysomething man who still lives with mom and pop. And why wouldn’t he? The place is quite nice and his every need and want is tended to – no wonder he says ''it's gonna take a stick of dynamite'' to get him out.

His parents (played by Terry Bradshaw and Kathy Bates) are rather unhappy with the situation, though (yet they hardly ever stop to ponder whether they have enabled their son’s arrested development). After all, Trip is just swell and seemingly well adjusted, so why hasn’t he flown the coop?

Naturally, they come up with the perfect solution (in theory only – don’t forget this is a romantic comedy) and hire Paula (Parker), a professional motivator, to give Trip the little push he needs to grow up. This, of course, sets in motion the events that will make Failure to Launch tick…or not.

An intriguingly plotted movie that launches all right, but fails to keep its audience captive, especially when its two leads aren’t on screen together, Failure to Launch is frequently derivative and lacks focus (what’s with Dey’s random scenes with animals, anyway?).

The thought that a man as good-looking and charming as McConaughey could ever be such a "loser" seems preposterous (thank goodness Trip’s more than meets the eye, even if this eventual revelation is played too by-the-book).

But any movie that has a character asking another if they want to spend the rest of their lives having fun or if they want to spend it with them is well worth the bother, if you ask me. I just loved that Paula asks Trip this at one point.

And McConaughey and Parker – in yet another (agreeable still) variation of the quintessential It Woman she perfected so lovely on HBO’s Sex and the City – have an exciting rapport and complement each other famously. And they photograph together rather handsomely.

Also noteworthy are Bradley Cooper (TV's Alias, Wedding Crashers), Justin Bartha (National Treasure), and Zooey Deschanel (All the Real Girls) as Trip and Paula’s best friends, who pop in long enough to help better (though not always successfully) establish their motives.

Everyone, however, looks as if they are, in fact, working instead of enjoying the story and the New Orleans background, which is where the movie shot last summer. Watching these characters flutter around against stimulating a background should help you enjoy Failure to Launch just fine.

My Rating **1/2

Photo: Paramount Pictures.