Directed by Baz Luhrmann Written by Baz Luhrmann & Craig Pearce

Starring: Nicole Kidman, Ewan McGregor, Jim Broadbent, John Leguizamo, Richard Roxburgh, Jacek Koman, Matthew Whittet

Baz Luhrmann's superbly cast, opulent Moulin Rouge is one production not to be missed on the big screen! Luhrmann creatively weaves a series of phenomenally busy-busy scenes much like a emotional roller coaster ride... jammed packed with visual & musical stimuli that will leave you breathless! The soundtrack includes great favorites from The Sound of Music, David Bowie to the Beetles. McGregor's & Kidman's singing voices are praiseworthy indeed & their chemistry leaps off the screen. Everything about this movie (from opening titles to ending credits finale) fits in like a stunning mosaic piece of art! Brilliant, extravagant, & outrageously mesmerizing! Powerfully cinematic with well-choreographed cancan razzmatazz, innovative set designs, musical numbers, colorful characters & costumes! It embraces Montmartre's bohemian life with a bizarre circus quality. Yet within this exotic fantasy lies the tale of seedy encounters, corruption, prostitution, & the tragedy of a dramatic Romeo-Juliet romance. Simply a clandestine love yarn, set to music, & rooted amidst virtue, sins, power, beauty & frantic gaiety. Now that's entertainment!

Moulin Rouge wins a spot on my all time favorite list.

If the above review didn't make you rush off to the theatre, or ladies, if your man says he hates musicals, let me add the ultimate push... My man, Da hunk, who usually detests musicals enjoyed this film totally & also has it on his list of favorite films ever! So guys, you will love it too.

Directed by Brian Helgeland Written by Curtis Hanson & Brian Helgeland

Starring: Heath Ledger, Mark Addy, Alan Tudyk, Paul Bettany, Rufus Sewell, Shannyn Sossaman, Laura Fraser, Christopher Cazenove

A Knight's Tale treats us to a fabulously fun, light, witty & original film for all ages to enjoy. Nay... this tale is no standard costume epic fare, but actually a pop culture send-up, complete with modern humor references, vintage rock songs by David Bowie, Queen, AC/DC, & Bachman Turner Overdrive, & a special appearance by Geoffrey Chaucer. Brian Helgeland folds the contemporary tunes nonsensically into the action & has the characters & extras actually singing & dancing to the music. The plot line, simple as it is, has the air of a classic fable without being bogged down by cliché. Heath is a handsome hunk. His lovely ladies are delightful & his merry cohorts are too much fun. Having the young, utterly contemporary Chaucer (Paul Bettany) amble through the movie smirkingly (he tops off one of his uproarious, top-of-the-lung Sir Ulric introductions with a merry "Thank you, I'll be here all week!") is a delightful ruse. So there you have it... knights in shining armor, lots of laughs, great tunes & a 'lil love! Simply a good time at the movies. A Knight's Tale will rock you!

Directed by Steven Soderbergh Written by Stephen Gaghan

Starring: Michael Douglas, Don Cheadle, Benicio Del Toro, Luis Guzman, Dennis Quaid, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Steven Bauer, Benjamin Bratt, James Brolin, Clifton Collins Jr., Miguel Ferrer, Erika Christensen, Albert Finney, Topher Grace, D.W. Moffett, Peter Riegert, Salma Hayek

While it seems that every film critic is calling Traffic the next best thing since white bread, I feel just like the kid who pointed out that the emperor didn't have on new clothes at all, but he was indeed naked! I really expected something deep & provocative, but I saw a film that was ho hum with nothing new. Working in the trenches, I've known for a long time that the U.S.'s so called "war on drugs" was a lost battle & Soderbergh's three loosely related stories about the ongoing drug war being waged across the U.S. - Mexican border left me disengaged & squirming in my seat waiting for the film to end. I was totally put off by his usage of handheld cameras, all too frequent jump cuts, and numerous inclusions of endless film stocks. The only things that saved me from complete boredom & a burning bag, was the acting of Catherine Zeta-Jones & Benicio Del Toro. Del Toro indeed gave an oscar winning performance of a man with heart and soul, but that alone wasn't enough to make me wish that I hadn't just said No to Traffic!

Directed by Joel Cohen  Written by Joel & Ethan Cohen.

Starring: George Clooney, John Turturro, Tim Blake Nelson, Charles Durning, John Goodman, Michael Badalucco, Holly Hunter, Stephen Root, Chris Thomas King, Wayne Duvall, Daniel Von Bargen, Frank Collison, Del Pentecost, Ray McKinnon

This Momma kneels & worships at the thrones of Joel and Ethan Coen!
With O Brother Where Art Thou, they bring us The Odyssey this time out as a Depression-era escaped-convicts comedy. Oh Yeah! Our Ulysses (George Clooney) escapes at the outset from a Mississippi chain gang shackled to Pete (John Turturro) and Delmar (Tim Blake Nelson), and his odyssey winds through its largely preordained (by Homer) route: On his way home and to a buried treasure, he is pursued by the law; confronts the sirens, the Cyclops (in the form of John Goodman's one-eyed Bible salesman), and the KKK; and stumbles into the strident Mississippi gubernatorial race between two Huey Long-ish candidates.

There are various tangents and larks in abundance for your viewing pleasure, including the three protagonists' sudden stardom as cornball bluegrass recording artists, the KKK rally's Busby-Berkeley choreography, and the haunting appearance of baptism-bound Christians in the woods to name a few. Add to that a knee slappin' soundtrack and you've simply got a rousing good time at the movies!

Directed by Robert Zemeckis  Written by William Broyles Jr.

Starring: Tom Hanks, Helen Hunt, Nick Searcy, Chris Noth, Lari White

Cast Away was simply a wonderful cinematic surprize! I almost didn't go to see this film, but I am so so glad that I did. Hanks turns in an Oscar-worthy performance yet again as Chuck Noland, a problem-solving FedEx systems analyst beholden to the clock who becomes marooned on an uninhabited South Pacific island after a oh so realistic plane crash. With the contents of the FedEx packages that begin to wash ashore (random items such as videotapes, ice skates, and a volleyball) Noland fashions solutions to his various predicaments. But once survival is ensured, the island's serenity becomes Noland's jail, and the roiling surf a clock counting the minutes of a timeless eternity. His fight against loneliness and despair is perhaps more gripping than his physical battle and leads him, in a wholly believable device, to develop a loyal friendship with the volleyball, upon which he's drawn a face with his own blood. Wilson, as he calls it, springs naturally from Noland's solitude and gives Hanks a reason to speak his mind. Whether he's dancing around the fire, cracking coconuts, or muttering to a volleyball, the range of primal emotions Hanks displays is phenomenal. There is so much more to the story than you'd expect as William Broyles Jr.'s script is heartfelt and engaging and you'll leave the theatre believing in magic.

Direction & Screenplay by David Mamet

Starring: William H. Macy, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Rebecca Pidgeon, David Paymer, Alec Baldwin, Sarah Jessica Parker, Clark Gregg, Julia Stiles, Charles Durning, Patti Lupone

Riding on the tail of Wag the Dog, Mamet's State and Main satirizes Hollywood greed and excess again, only this time, the cell-phone wielding industry types head to a bucolic New England burg for a head-on collision between show business and rural America.

The results are hip and flip, but for all its wit and sharp casting, State and Main is way too pleased with itself to be all that funny or endearing. Although Macy, Hoffman, & Parker were especially fun to watch, most of the script's jokes were too "inside" for me to recommend you spend your hard earned bucks seeing this film at the theatre. Still it will be a moderately entertaining film to rent when nothing good is on cable and network TV is showing their usual fodder.

Directed by Lasse Hallström  Written by Robert Nelson Jacobs

Starring: Juliet Binoche, Judi Dench, Victoire Thivisol, Johnny Depp, Alfred Molina, Lena Olin, Carrie-Anne Moss, Aurelien Parent-Koening, Hugh O'Conor, Peter Stormare

Chocolat (adapted from Joanne Harris' novel ) is a magical fable that is simply scrumptious from start to finish. Juliette Binoche is lovely as confectioner Vianne Rocher, the child of an apothecary and a mysterious nomad whose healing experiments are her legacy. She and her daughter, Anouk (Victoire Thivisol, who's growing up beautifully since her astounding Ponette performance), blow into provincial France in their matching woolen jackets, like a pair of vulnerable Little Red Riding Hoods. Vianne rents an abandoned patisserie and its upstairs apartment from surly loner Amande Voizin (Judi Dench, who once again goes for Oscar gold), and her decision to open a decadent chocolate shop in the middle of Lent promptly raises the ire of the town's leader, Comte de Reynaud (Alfred Molina). And so the war between small minds and big hearts begins...

Chocolat is both beautifully directed & photographed. This enchanting tale is seductively filled with wonderful casting and images. Johnny Depp looks good enough to eat... like all the other mouth watering chocolate aphrodisiacs our heroine offers. Oh Yummy! I'm off to search for a big supply of those chocolate covered nutty thingies for Da Hunk! Do go & enjoy this feast for the eyes. Bon Appetite!

Directed by Nancy Myers Written by Josh Goldsmith & Cathy Yuspa

Starring: Mel Gibson, Helen Hunt, Marisa Tomei, Lauren Holly, Mark Feuerstein, Ashley Johnson, Delta Burke, Valerie Perrine, Alan Alda, Bette Midler, Sarah Paulson

SYNOPSIS: After an accident, a chauvenistic executive gains the ability to hear what women are really thinking. Oh yeah...

What Women Want simply... is Mel Gibson in any shape or form and in this calculated romantic comedy, he serves us well like a new age Cary Grant! Predictable...yes, but I had alot of fun watching Mel's exploration of his feminine side. (Even though the promos continue to vex me with too many glimpses of the good parts before hand!) Helen Hunt looked especially lovely, but the chemistry between Helen & Mel, plus a so-so script didn't grab my heart like so many other past romantic comedy classics. Marisa Tomei by far had the funniest lines and moments of all Mel's on screen gal pals. Even though this film is no When Harry Met Sally, it's still fun plus you get your Mel fix! Watching Mel dance is worth the price of a ticket and then some.

Directed by Ang Lee Written by Du Luc Wang & Hui-Ling Wang

Starring: Chow Yun-Fat, Michelle Yeoh, Zhang Ziyi, Chang Chen, Sihung Lung, Pei-Pei Cheng, Fazeng Li

SYNOPSIS: The disappearance of a magical jade sword spurs a breathtaking quest for a missing treasure as two women's fates intertwine during a tumultuous period of the Ching Dynasty.

Wow!
If you're not a fan of martial arts epics, director Ang Lee's Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon will magically change your mind to be sure! This isn't your average high-flying kung fu and sword-slinging fodder boyz & girlz. It's an epic love story with a strong feminist bent that will leave you breathless and mesmerized. Lush photography and exquisite direction are just the icing on this delicious rich story. Fight maestro Yuen Wo-Ping (of The Matrix fame) stages the dazzling acrobatic action so the combat sequences are truely gravity-defying works of art. This dazzling film simply should not be missed!