THE INVISIBLE
Hollywood Pictures

A whodunit, to be solved by the victim. Based on the Swedish film, DEN OSYNLIGE (2002) directed by Joel Bergvall and Simon Sandquist (who are now reportedly working on Sarah Michelle Gellar's ADDICTED), and written by Mick Davis from Mats Wahl's novel, this version is again written by Davis with an assist from Christine Roum. The film's director is David S. Goyer, who wrote, executive-produced and directed the television series THRESHOLD (2005-6), along with helming the BLADE movie series, so this is a genre he's got a handle on.

VACANCY
Screen Gems

Why do people flock to see movies where innocent people are terrorized by strangers? Don't they get enough angst in real life?

In VACANCY, a young couple, played by Kate Beckinsale and Luke Wilson, are stranded by the perennial favorite - the broken-down car - at a weird hotel with, oddly, no check-out time. The owners seemingly run a cottage snuff film industry and terrorize our feckless heroes. Did these two people never see PSYCHO?

PERFECT STRANGER
Sony Pictures Entertainment

If the previews are to be believed, this film is suspenseful. But I wouldn't hold my breath. I was surprised to learn that one of the main plot points is the use of - drum roll, please – text messaging. Yes, friends, the dynamic world of typing letters and seeing them appear on the screen. Riveting, like watching people type.

Berry's reporter character, Rowena Price, suspects that Willis's character, businessman Harrison Hill, murdered her friend (someone he was dating), so she gets hired as a temp at his company and the hijinks begin. Sounds promising, but there's that text messaging thing, which I notice isn't referenced in the trailer. The onscreen pairing of the normally entertaining Bruce Willis with Halle Berry, as witnessed in the trailer, lacks any vibrancy.

THE HOAX - Miramax Films
People who remember the early 70s (not everyone who was there does) will recall how author Clifford Irving, with a generous helping of bravura and more than an immense imagination, hoodwinked both his publisher and the public into believing that he had negotiated and written the most sought-after biography of his generation that of eccentric millionaire Howard Hughes, who, at the time, was a recluse extraordinaire. It was a hoax of epic proportions, one the perpetrators were sure would never come out, as Hughes loathed the spotlight and was reportedly very ill. Eventually Hughes had a telephone conference with seven news reporters (televised two days later) where he said he'd never met Irving nor approved or cooperated in producing any such biography. Even then, the willful Irving claimed the voice was fake.

Blades of Glory
Director: Josh Gordon Will Speck
Stars: Will Ferrell, Jon Heder, Amy Poehler
Studio: Paramount Pictures

If you’ve tuned into any television show over the past month, you had to have seen the trailer, a strangely funny trailer with a few laughs and a few more raised eyebrows. The premise looks, well, kind of funny and the plot looks to be about the same. Neither that premise nor that plot looks like it can hold a comedy for very long, which smacks of another lackluster comedy from a guy (Ferrell) who is starting to churn out crappy comedies at the same pace that Lindsay Lohan goes through rehab centers. Besides Old School, Ferrell’s comedies have been overblown and really campy. This film doesn’t look like it will stray from that form. One thing that has struck me over the past few years is that it seems that Ferrell has taken a liking to scripts that are either partially written or are just mock-ups so that he can put his own comedic stamp on the work. While this worked with the ultra-hilarious “Santa’s coming! I know him…” line

I walked into a showing of the new Mark Wahlberg film, Shooter, not knowing what to expect. I had not seen a single preview for it yet. However, I like movies where things blow up and people get shot. Movies with Wahlberg in them usually deliver such violence. And Shooter is no different.

Shooter begins in a war scene. Within minutes the screen is alight with gunfire. However, the movie soon slows again as the plot is built. I was relieved to discover that it was not a “war film.” Those have been sort of exhausted lately, in my opinion.

What can you expect to see this year? How about 58 films from 13 countries, and more than 40 filmmakers, cast & crew in attendance? With 3 days and 4 nights (March 22-25th) of shorts, documentaries, animated and feature films, you are sure to find something to please your cinematic palate. Opening Night takes place at Malco’s Paradiso with screenings Friday through Sunday at Malco’s Studio On The Square.

The festival will showcase filmmakers from around the globe and right in our own backyard such as the Thursday Night Opening Night pairing of a Romanian Short film—A Very Small Trilogy of Loneliness from Romanian Director, Bogdan George Apetri (nominated for a Student Academy Award) and the Opening Night Feature—Oh, Mr. Faulkner, Do You Write? - John Maxwell's critically acclaimed one-man show based on the life of William Faulkner filmed before a live audience in Faulkner's home town of Oxford, Mississippi—a true departure from the typical opening night films, this film is NOT to be missed.

300
Director: Zack Snyder
Stars: Gerard Butler, Lena Headey, David Wenham
Studio: Warner Bros. Pictures

Admittedly, this film has caught my eye. I don’t know whether it’s the visual effects of the film, the thought of watching another Greek tale go down in flames or that’s it’s the only release this weekend. Regardless, something is pulling at my movie strings. Even though this will be the definition of a story being “Hollywooded Up”, it still should be at least pleasing in all of its’ gory. To wit, this film has received far more praise than most films of this genre and it might say something about the state of films so far this 2007 that this one is getting the best reviews so far.

Zodiac
Director: David Fincher
Stars: Jake Gyllenhaal, Robert Downey Jr., Mark Ruffalo
Studio: Paramount Pictures

It’s a light weekend, but there are two potential great films coming out this weekend. One, Black Snake Moan, has already been reviewed on this site by Cheryl Wolder and as it’s the atop the home page, you’ve probably already seen the story. The second film I speak of so highly is this one. Yes, I’m a crime/ serial killer movie buff, so it’s not so surprising that I’m going to see this after BSM, but regardless of my soft spot for this genre, most accounts point to this movie at least reminding us of The Silence of the Lambs. It’s a true story of terror.

Breach
Director: Billy Ray
Stars: Chris Cooper, Ryan Phillippe, Dennis Haysbert
Studio: Universal Pictures

The film that I’m more excited about than almost anything that’s come out this new year. First, I was a history major with a good amount of my studies going into post-WWII America and the foreign relations this country had with the rest of the world, but especially the Communist Bloc. That information alone should give you a good idea why I’m so enthralled. But, also, the cast is terrific, the story is true and this will not be a shoot ‘em up, gizmo driven testosterone spy flick a la The Bourne series. No, this is a story of the most intriguing and deceitful spy the US has ever come across and he just so happens to be working for our intelligence community while moonlighting for Russia as a double agent. As we’ve seen repeatedly, but maybe no more vividly than in the cult classic The Falcon and The Snowman, our intelligence community lacks severely in one of those two words and it isn’t the group of people word.

One of my favorite movies has always been, I’ll dare say it, the “classic” Monty Python’s Search for the Holy Grail. How are fart jokes and flesh wounds not timeless entertainment?

Though my parents, until recently, couldn’t understand why my sister and I found the statement “your mother was a hamster and you father smelled of elderberries!” so entertaining, they kindly gave us tickets to the broadway musical version; Spamalot. It opened in Memphis last night at the Orpheum.

I was both excited and skeptical. While I love the movie, the thought of it being a touring theater show sounded daring. If you have never seen or hear or it, the story is of King Arthur, the Knights of the Round Table and their quest to find the Holy Grail. A much told story in the form of satire and silliness, full of the aforementioned fart jokes and flesh wounds.

It’s that time of the year- no, not the Grammy’s (which were just a little too nauseating to watch after The Police decided that, yes, they do still hate each other some twenty-odd years later.) and no, not the Oscars- it’s time for the real awards to be handed out for the 27th Annual Golden Raspberry Awards, or just the Razzies. The Razzies have been around since the early 1980’s and celebrating everything that is tremendously crappy in the film world. From weekly (and sometimes daily) updates on the film’s released each weekend to the “classics” that the big tube in the sky likes to send down through our television portals, the Golden Raspberries neither play favorites nor do they hold back any criticism. This year, on Saturday, February 24, 2007 at 7:30pm/PST, (at The Ivar Theatre in Hollywood), the Razzies will once again hand out their ultra-chic trophies (golden spray-painted raspberry atop a 8mm reel) to those people, persons or films that were just so craptastic, their

Hannibal Rising
Director: Peter Webber
Stars: Gaspard Ulliel, Rhys Ifans, Li Gong
Studio: Weinstein Company, The

In the ultimate tug of war, Silence of the Lambs was both one of my favorite books as well as one of my favorite movies. Yet, as the franchise has continued on, it’s also continued downward. Even though no sequel could ever match up to the first installation, this pre-prequel looks to be the bottom of the barrel, a fact that has only minorly tempered my enthusiasm for the opening. Regardless of the mass media’s treatment of this film (and it hasn’t been kind), I’ll still be in the theatre tonight as the fourth film is released. Everyone knows Hannibal Lecter. The character and story

Smokin' Aces
Director: Joe Carnahan
Stars: Jeremy Piven, Ryan Reynolds, Ray Liotta
Studio: Universal Pictures

Cancel your plans, drop that date because this should be the best action movie to come out since Casino Royale debuted last fall. Seeing as that’s not a very long time to surround that huge hype, Casino Royale was the best action movie made in a very long time. Smokin’ Aces is going to give it a run, though. Besides having a new twist on an already good plot, this movie has a great cast (besides the above mentioned- Ben Affleck, Jason Bateman, Common, Joseph Ruskin, Andy Garcia, Alex Rocco, Alicia Keys, Wayne Newton and Peter Berg). To the plotmoblie, Robin!

The Italian
Director: Andrei Kravchuk
Stars: Kolya Spiridonov, Mariya Kuznetsova, Nikolai Reutov
Studio: Sony Pictures Classics

Seeing as almost none of us have seen the trailer for this film, I guess it’s time for me to actually earn my keep. First things first, though, and let’s start out by simply stating that this film should be a good one, even a great one if you’re one of the people like myself that thinks a film doesn’t have to have guns, bombs and crazy stunts for it to be great. And that’s what we’re dealing with here. It’s a story of a boy who has to make life decisions at a very young age that deal with his parents and his adoption.