This movie, Scott Pilgrim vs the World is quirky, fun, zany and adorable. I loved it. Yes, it’s a tribute – a lovely ode – to nerdville, the gaming industry and comic book geeks. But, regular “dull” folks can enjoy it, too. Just “youthen-up” and open your mind a little.

The movie is framed as a video game which requires one to think outside the edges of everyday moviemaking and dive into a world where reality and imagination are blurred together. But, it’s also a love story and a story about facing yourself and your demons and coming to grips with life. There are pop culture references galore thrown into the mix, which was pure genius — sitcom laugh tracks which are hilarious, noir references, the “Seinfeld” theme song and so on. Things do go on a bit too long at times and there are some unnecessary repeats, but it is still highly entertaining. And, skinny Michael Cera is perfect in this role as Scott Pilgrim – a rock’n’roll hero in his own mind.

The story is loosely autobiographical and focuses on Bryan Lee O’Malley’s imaginative, artistic musings about a 22-year-old Toronto native whose life lacks ambition until he’s in a fight TO THE DEATH for his girlfriend, Ramona Flowers. He meets her when she Ramona rollerblades into Scott’s dreams, then turns up at a party a few hours later.  In order to win over Ramona’s affections, he must use a skill-set that one can only learn from video games and comic books. Stuck in adolescence, Scott plays in a band named Sex Bom-Omb, goes on dates that consist of playing Dance Dance Revolution and tries to impress girls with his knowledge of Pac-Man history.

Edgar Wright, director of Shaun of the Dead directed this movie and only someone with his zany viewpoint of the world could pull it off.  And a fantastical world it is.

I loved all the hearts bubbling around the screen, the comic-book style comments, and the “Facebook” style voice-over intro of each character. There’s so much to absorb in this movie – all the pop culture nuances and “tongue-in-cheek” references, it’s a wild ride.

In a nutshell: Scott’s dream girl’s name is Ramona (Mary Elizabeth Winstead), and she has seven deadly ex-boyfriends. Scott must fight each “to the death,” with a death earning high scores (as in video games) and a rainstorm of coins, while kisses (with the girl, not the exes) burst into fireworks of floating hearts. You have to see it to appreciate it.

The screenplay, written by the director, Edgar Wright and Michael Bacall (“Manic”), remains true to O’Malley’s six-volume Scott Pilgrim graphic novel series. Director of photography Bill Pope, who worked on Darkman and the last two Spider-Mans, among others, keeps Scott’s world on the fantastical side even when he’s not being the super-hero.

The plot and action revolve around Scott’s love life and his dreams. His latest girlfriend was a 17-year-old high-school girl named Knives Chau (Ellen Wong). Anna Kendrick (Up in the Air and the Twilight Saga) is excellent as Scott’s older sister who whips out her lines just as smartly and convincingly as she did in Up in the Air. She’s savvy, cool and collected. (I wish they had given her more to do in this film. Such a waste of an extreme talent).

Scott’s “new-new” girlfriend, Ramona, is sexy and mysterious – a Goodwill thrift-store shopper who changes the color of her hair every week. Winstead gives Ramona a splash of depth and intrigue.

Kieran Culkin plays Wallace Wells, Scott’s gay roommate. He’s excellent as the quiet, unassuming roommate and adds a lot to the zaniness of the movie.

The exes that Scott has to fight symbolize different genre satires. I’m not going to tell you about all of them because it will be more fun for you to meet them when you watch the movie. However, Jason Schwartzman and Fantastic Four’s Chris Evans are two of the best.

I know one thing: teenagers and young adults who love video games are going to love this heartwarming fantasy!

I liked this movie, The Sorcerer’s Apprentice. And the audience in my theater seemed to really like it. There was a lot of laughter. However, it’s getting a lot of bad reviews, but I think some people take pleasure in tearing a film apart instead of just enjoying the ride.  People are calling it a Harry Potter knockoff, but I disagree, although I guess I can see some similarities. I think it’s a fun, simple, charming film with great actors and lots of humor.  It doesn’t have the layers and nuances of Harry Potter, but it’s fun, nonetheless. It begins in the 8th century when Merlin chooses three sorcerers/disciples: Balthazar (Nicolas Cage), Horvath (Alfred Molina) and Veronica (Monica Bellucci). Horvath betrays them and decides to help the evil sorceress Morgana (Alice Krige) destroy the world by raising the corpses of the dead.

Merlin is killed, and Veronica absorbs the soul of Morgana into her own body as a way to save Balthalzar. Balthazar imprisons her inside a wooden doll called the grimhold. He also imprisons Balthazar there, and a few other evil sorcerers. Now, it’s up to Balthazar to find the “next Merlin” called the “Prime Merlinean” – someone who will be descended from Merlin. To do this, he will need to find  the one person who can wear Merlin’s special, magical ring. He waits over a thousand years before young Dave comes along in the year 2000. They meet in a weird antique store where Dave accidentally frees Horvath from the grimhold. Then, both Horvath and Balthazar get imprisoned together in a magic urn for 10 years.

Time travel to present day where both Horvath and Balthazar escape the magic urn and a geeky Dave (Jay Baruchel, She’s Out Of My League) starts training with Balthalzar. Dave doesn’t realize he, himself – a nerdy 20 year old physics whiz – is a powerful sorcerer himself known as the “Prime Merlinean” – the only one in the world who will be able to defeat the chief evildoer, Morgana le Fay. Merlin’s prophecy foretold that one day, this “Prime Merlinean” would rise up to defeat the forces of black magic – the evil sorcerer Horvath (Alfred Molina) and Morgana.

There are some hilarious moments in the film. Horvath has his own apprentice – a Las Vegas-style, narcissistic magician named Drake (Toby Kebbell). (I kept thinking Russell Brand would have been spot-on in this role, but Toby did an excellent job).

Dave (Baruchel) trains with Balthalzar and the two work together to save each other from Horvath.

Teresa Palmer plays Becky, the beautiful blonde, blue-eyed, college student who Dave is in love with and has been since he was a child. The two do not have any chemistry, unfortunately. At all.  Dave (Baruchel) is simply not exactly right for this film, although he’s not bad. And, I would have liked it if Nicolas Cage had washed his hair. It was scraggly and greasy looking. Cage could have given his character a little more class with clean hair. After all, Molina gave his own character, Horvath, a very clean-cut, dressed up look.

The rest of the movie is a race for the grimhold and then a race to save the world. The best scenes are those between Cage and Baruchel; Cage is excellent going between stoic and nutty. He offers some funny lines such as dropping a line about getting some “itch cream” for the neurotic Dave in front of Becky. 

The movie was directed by Jon Turteltaub (the National Treasure films), and he does a good job moving the movie along at a fast pace.  There are plenty of cool special effects and action scenes that guys will love and girls will enjoy the love connection.

Honestly, this is a fun movie that tweens will really love – along with some adults who can just enjoy it for the entertainment factor. Don’t think too hard about it. This movie is just for fun.

W.O.W. (Which stands for Way Over Wow!) This movie is absolutely brilliant. In a nutshell, it explores the dream world and shows us how we can control our dreams. How we can go into our dreams, share our dreams with others and have adventures, even to the point of altering a person’s mind and his/her decisions in the waking world. Inception is simply incredible. Just like James Cameron created a new fantasy world in Avatar that was a unique visual masterpiece, Christopher Nolan (writer and director) created a dream world that’s unlike anything you’ve ever seen before on the big screen.

As you know, movies today generally are all action, chick flicks, sequels, remakes or franchises. In fact, it’s hard to find a movie that’s the “first of its kind.” A movie that introduces us to something we’ve never seen before. And that’s what Inception does.

Many of you will want to see this movie more than once because it’s a mind trip, to say the least. I heard several people around me in the theater say that they will have to go and see it again to understand it. That’s O.K. I think it will be even more exciting the second time because you can grasp it more fully.

Ah…the dream worlds. Freud believed that dreams were compounded out of the primal matter of the unconscious and the prosaic events of daily life. But, what if the dream world is actually our real world and this waking world nothing but a dream world? This question is posited to us several times in the movie.

Like Cobb, (Leonardo DiCaprio), the hero of that film, we, as the viewer of Inception is adrift in time and experience. We can never even be quite sure what the relationship between dream time and real time is. The hero explains that you can never remember the beginning of a dream, and that dreams that seem to cover hours may only last a short time. Yes, but you don’t know that when you’re dreaming. And what if you’re inside another man’s dream?

Dom Cobb (Leonardo DiCaprio) is an executive corporate raider – an extractor. He’s a skilled craftsman who can enter others’ dreams to draw out valuable information. In other words, he infiltrates the minds of others to steal their ideas. In Inception, he is hired by a powerful billionaire to do the opposite: To introduce an idea into a rival’s mind, and do it so well he believes it is his own. This has never been done before; our minds are as alert to foreign ideas as our immune system is to pathogens. The rich man, named Saito (Ken Watanabe), makes him an offer he can’t refuse, an offer that would end Cobb’s forced exile from home and family. We’re not sure exactly why Cobb can’t go back home to the U.S. where his two children are living with their grandmother. It’s only as the movie progresses do we learn the truth of the matter.

Cobb assembles a team. We meet the people he will need to work with: Arthur (Joseph Gordon-Levitt), his longtime associate; Eames (Tom Hardy), a master at deception; Yusuf (Dileep Rao), a master chemist. And there is a new recruit, Ariadne (Ellen Page), a brilliant young architect who is a prodigy at creating spaces. Cobb hires her to be the architect of the dream world. Cobb also touches base with his father-in-law Miles (Michael Caine), who knows what he does and how he does it.

We have to wonder why Cobb needs an architect to create spaces in dreams when he is the expert. He explains to Ariadne that dreams have a shifting architecture, as we all know and where we are has a way of changing and shifting. Cobb tutors Ariadne on the world of dream infiltration, the art of controlling dreams and navigating them.

Cobb’s assignment is the inception – the creation/birth –  of a new idea in the mind of another young billionaire, Robert Fischer Jr. (Cillian Murphy) heir to his father’s empire. Saito wants him to initiate ideas that will lead to the surrender of his rival’s corporation. To do this, Cobb and his team have to go deep, deep into the dream world – several layers deep, in fact. Cobb needs Ariadne to create a deceptive maze-space in Fischer’s dreams so they can implant new thoughts without him knowing. But, there are numerous dangers to invading other people’s dreams and there are different levels of dreaming, including dreams within dreams.

The reason Cobb is motivated to risk the dangers of inception is because of grief and guilt involving his wife Mal (the beautiful Marion Cotillard) who starred in La Vie en Rose), and their two children. I am not going to give the plot away because it’s better for you to discover this on your own.  Suffice it to say that Mal is not actually a player or character in the dream world created by Cobb; rather, she lives in the subconscious of Cobb’s mind and shows up in his dreams as a projection.

The special effects in this movie are absolutely astonishing. Breathtaking. On-the-edge-of-your-seat enthralling. (This movie would have been wonderful in 3-D and is on IMAX). The movie is a perplexing labyrinth and is sure to inspire endless analysis on the web. For example: Nolan folds a mirror version of Paris back upon itself; he stages a fight sequence in a gravity-free hotel room where everyone is floating and suspended in air; he sends a train plowing through a busy city street. Whatever you can dream, Nolan does it in Inception. Then he nestles those little dreams into even bigger dreams, and those bigger dreams into gargantuan dreams, going on into infinity, cubed. He stretches the boundaries of filmmaking so that it’s, like, not even filmmaking anymore – it’s an adventure that we’ve never experienced before.  

It is said that Christopher Nolan spent ten years writing his screenplay for Inception. (James Cameron spent about 15 years writing Avatar).  Einstein said that imagination is more important than knowledge. Christopher Nolan has tapped into his imaginative core to produce something that has stretched the boundaries of our mind. No doubt he has studied dreams in his own life to be able to construct something of this magnitude.

The entire cast is superb. Joseph Gordon-Levitt, who generally stars in comedic roles, is brilliant as his associate, Arthur.   

This movie is absolutely wonderful. It is original, thought-provoking, entertaining and suspenseful. The action scenes will take your breath away; the dream worlds will fascinate you and entertain you; the emotional landscape will tear at your core and you’ll leave the theater knowing you just experienced something that is brilliant and different. 

Go see this movie now!

Note:  Is it a coincidence that Ariadne is named for the woman in Greek mythology who helped Theseus escape from the Minotaur’s labyrinth?

Oh. My. Gosh. This movie is F.A.N.T.A.S.T.I.C. 

Congratulations to David Slade, director of the Twilight Saga: Eclipse movie. Congratulations to Rob Pattinson, Kristen Stewart and Taylor Lautner for giving us incredible performances. Congratulations to everyone who made this movie. The three leads excel under Slade’s direction. Stewart has greatly improved in her portrayal of Bella. In fact, her last monologue in the movie is touching and Academy-Award nomination worthy. Rob is so romantic, it will make every girl swoon with just the “thought” of having a boyfriend like him, and will make men everywhere take notes. And Taylor Lautner is absolutely brilliant in his role as Jacob – the fiery, spitfire friend who believes he can give Bella a better life than Edward.

Honestly though, I attribute a lot of the brilliance of this movie to director David Slade, the guy who gave us the better-than-average chiller 30 Days of Night and the equally better-than-average chiller, Hard Candy, featuring a pre-Juno Ellen Page as a teenager who teaches a pedophile some hard lessons. Previous directors Catherine Hardwicke on Twilight and Chris Weitz on New Moon each had a different style — the former quite indie and romantic, and the latter forced to deal with a “missing Edward” for most of the movie, which fans didn’t like.

Slade knows how to create a fast pace that’s heightened with tension and he used that talent in Eclipse. From the mysterious, tension-filled opening scene to the edge-of-your-seat, nail-biting finale, the movie is equal parts action fantasy, romance, drama and comedy. The jealousy, humor and sparring between Jacob (Taylor Lautner) and Edward (Rob Pattinson) are some of my favorite moments in the movie. Eclipse easily moves into the heart of the matter – a love triangle that forces Bella (Kristen Stewart) to face the fact that she’s in love with 2 young men in her life – Jacob and Edward. Of course, those who have read the book know who she ultimately chooses; they know what will happen. I’m aware there are those of you out there who are watching the movies and not reading the books. You’re missing a lot. There are so many nuances and stories in the book that can’t be included in the movies. Just like the Harry Potter books and movies. If you’re not reading the books, you’re missing a lot of the story. Still, Eclipse is one movie you’ll love no matter if you’ve read the book or not.

Xavier Samuel

The film starts with a scene that introduces the storyline of a serial killer in Seattle. It appears that there is a series of vicious killings and disappearances in Seattle. This tips off the Cullen clan that a vampire is creating an army of newborns – newly turned vampires whose ravenous thirst makes them stronger and more deadly than “old” vampires. Xavier Samuel stars as Riley, one of the newborns who is leading this army. And, wow, is he gorgeous. Xavier is likely to become the new “hottie” of this movie. (I’m sure Rob and Taylor won’t mind moving over to let someone else take on the fans!) Xavier revealed that he read the series after being cast as “Riley” and became a fan, finding the stories “intoxicating” and being left “not surprised that they’ve generated this kind of support.” From Hamilton, Victoria, Australia, Xavier attended Flinders University Drama Centre in 2005 where he played Hamlet in the graduate production. And, he graduated from Rostrevor College in Australia in 2001. I’m sure we’ll see much more of him in American films.

There is the classic reintroduction of the movie’s main characters: Bella Swan (Kristen Stewart) who is still in love with Edward and still insistent on becoming a vampire, but resistant about the idea of marriage; beautiful Edward Cullen (Robert Pattinson), who will do anything for Bella EXCEPT sleep with her. He explains he believes in getting married before having sex, and Jacob Black (Taylor Lautner), a hunky six-pack, constantly bare-chested Native American who shape-shifts into a wolf at a moment’s notice. As Edward says in the movie, “Doesn’t he own a shirt?” The script by Melissa Rosenberg offers more humor in this film than in the others. Another favorite scene of mine is in the tent when Edward allows Jacob to sleep in the sleeping bag with Bella as a way to keep her warm. Jacob tells Edward, “I’m way hotter than you.” Hilarious.

Bryce Dallas Howard on set with Xavier Samuel (Victoria & Riley)

The red-headed villain, Victoria, is played by Bryce Dallas Howard, who, in seeking revenge against the Cullens and Edward in particular, intends to destroy Bella with this newborn army of vampires. This prompts Edward and Jacob to contemplate the unthinkable – a temporary alliance to protect the girl they both love. Bryce Dallas Howard is the daughter to Ron Howard, a former actor turned Oscar-winning director. Bryce has said in interviews that she is a Twi-hard and watched the first movie, Twilight, numerous times. She said she was afraid to wrestle with Edward (Rob) in the film, worried she would hurt him. Bryce replaced Rachelle Lefevre as Victoria due to alleged filming conflicts.

Billy Burke returns as Charlie, Bella’s father and police chief, and once again, he steals every scene he’s in. Bella and Charlie have a talk about sex that is priceless. The series’ more peripheral characters are better portrayed in this film. The film delivers back-stories for both Jasper (Jackson Rathbone) and Rosalie (Nikki Reed) of the Cullen family as well as the origins of Jacob’s family, the wolf pack, without any of these flashbacks seeming like intrusions.

Several members of the Volturi make an appearance and with Dakota Fanning as the cunning Jane, are just as spooky as ever.

As for the wolf pack, the CG wolves – huge, believable creatures whose ferocity fails to mask their tenderness – are very cool, and the fight at the climax among wolves, vampires and one poor human is no letdown. Again, thank you, David Slade!  

Paul Denham Austerberry did a fantastic job as production designer, taking advantage of the beautiful dark woods of British Columbia. Director of photography is Javier Aguirresarobe and this movie features some of the most beautiful scenes – wide-swept fields and mountains in addition to a snowy wonderland.

Howard Shore scored the movie and it is lush and beautiful. (He also scored the Lord of the Rings trilogy.) I loved that Clair de lune was playing in the background at Edward’s house – a wonderful reference to the first movie, Twilight.

I’m not going to write in-depth about the plot. There’s no need to because I am sure all of you fans know the plot. I will say this: The Twilight Saga: Eclipse is the best of all the Twilight movies so far. I’ve already seen it twice and I plan to go and see it again tomorrow. I can’t think of a better way to spend my Sunday than to spend some time with Edward and Jacob.

Update on Box Office Numbers

According to www.metro.co.uk, The Twilight Saga: Eclipse is on course for a $200 million opening. Summit Entertainment said it took in more than $120 million (£79 million) during its first three days of release. This is the first Twilight film to be released in a large screen format for presentation on IMAX screens.

The distributor also published a prediction which suggested the film would enjoy total ticket sales worth almost $200 million in its opening six days.

Should that prove to be the case, The Twilight Saga: Eclipse would beat the opening-week box office figures of its two predecessors. It would also make it third in the all-time opening six-day figures chart, behind The Dark Knight and Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen. The Twilight Saga: Eclipse has already set several sales records, including the best midnight gross figure of $30 million, according to Hollywood.com Box Office. However, it only had the second biggest first-day sales, as its $65.8 million was well short of The Twilight Saga: New Moon’s record of $72.7 million from 4,024 theaters on its opening day, setting a new all-time single day box office record. That figure included $26.3M in midnight shows. On Wednesday, June 30, 2004, Spider-Man 2 took in $40.4M ($52M adjusted for inflation). By the end of the Monday holiday it had taken in $180.1M (230M adjusted).

The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn

Producer Wyck Godfry recently confirmed that The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn, a two-part film will be shot in Louisiana as well as back up in Vancouver. Melissa Rosenberg, the screenwriter, says that Breaking Dawn will be sexier. She’s aware of fans’ petitions to make the two flicks R-rated, thanks to a certain feathers flying Edward and Bella sex scene. She says, “I think we can get awfully sexy with a PG-13. I’m not worried about the rating. I know a lot of fans are like, ‘We have to go R to do it justice,’ but I don’t think so. I think it’s going to be pretty hot. Way hot!”

Note: All photos are courtesy of Summit Entertainment.

I really enjoyed this movie, Knight and Day. Starring Tom Cruise, Cameron Diaz, Peter Sarsgaard, Viola Davis, Paul Dano, Maggie Grace, and Marc Blucas, this movie is charming, sweet, and action-oriented. It doesn’t hurt that Cruise wields a nice 6-pack, too. (Move over, Taylor Lautner!)

I have to admit: I get tired of the overdone movie plot in which an American guy gets tangled up in an espionage, hit men and CIA ops. They seldom have much of a plot and are all action. Knight and Day is a refreshing change. It has plenty of action, lots of humor and enough romance to satisfy women and not get on men’s nerves.

June Havens (Cameron Diaz) catches the wrong flight back to Boston which intertwines her with a handsome, mysterious and slightly comedic secret agent (Tom Cruise). He bumps into her seemingly by mistake, they exchange pleasantries and part ways only to bump into each other again before boarding a plane. Cruise plays Roy Miller, an alleged rogue secret super-assassin CIA agent. He isn’t happy about June boarding his plane. Turns out the plane is almost empty, apparently it was booked up by the government except for a few passengers. June, a tomboy who owns an auto repair shop, sits near Roy, thinks he is handsome and decides to go for it. She heads off to the bathroom to freshen up and while she’s gone major mayhem ensues between Roy and the other men on the plane. When she returns, she throws herself at him and it takes her a while to figure out just what exactly happened while she was in the bathroom.

Then, the action and fun really takes off. Once June is back in Boston, she meets a good friend of hers and tells him about this “strange guy” she met on the plane. Roy appears just at that time and says, “I’m that guy,” which is indeed one of Cruise’s funniest lines.

Roy is sweet and charming to June, warning her that some people from the government might come looking for her and if they do, she is not to trust them. Never get in a vehicle with them, he says, and the more they tell you that they’re taking you to a secure location where you’ll be safe, the more you can be certain that they’re going to kill you.

There’s some spy-stuff stuff afoot with Roy being watched by some guys who seem to be government agents. With a lot of slick action sequences and impossible “mission impossible” stunts and other traditional 007 accoutrements including gun battles, exotic locales – from a South Pacific island to the streets of Seville – twists and turns, and car chases, the story moves at a fast pace.

Cruise is great in this role. He’s what we want an action hero to be – handsome, charming, kind, sweet, debonair…and did I mention that 6-pack? It’s great seeing him in this sort of role once again. Cruise is perfect in his portrayal of a trained killer on the run from the government. This is an action-romance comedy at heart and Cruise creates a character that, while he’s 100% tough, there is some “tongue in cheek” comedy as if he’s winking at us during some of the scenes. It’s fun and refreshing. Cameron Diaz is funny and adorable, as always. She plays the wide-eyed innocent who is slowly enlightened about who the good guys and bad guys are.

Meanwhile, Peter Sarsgaard plays the heavy, Roy’s intra-agency rival, with Viola Davis as their boss. I am not going to give the plot away. I hate it when reviewers do that. It kind of spoils the movie for me. I’m going to let you go see the film and enjoy the ride.

Directed by James Mangold and written by Mangold and Patrick O’Neill, I think it’s the perfect date night movie for any age.

Go have some fun!

All photos are courtesy of New Regency Pictures and Twentieth Century Fox.

I love this movie. Many critics are slamming it, but I don’t understand why. What’s not to love? Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time, is based off of the famous video games that have sold millions of copies.

Prince of Persia shouldn’t be compared with horrible movies based on video games, like Doom or Final Fantasy. Instead, it should be compared to a movie like Pirates of Caribbean, although I think it’s much better, to tell you the truth. It is beautiful, dreamy, romantic and yet filled with plenty of action, Arabian warriors, heroics, and fantasy.  And, it stays true to the video game.

Jake Gyllenhaal (Brothers, Brothers, Brokeback Mountain, Zodiac) plays lead character, Dastan, who is a street urchin-pickpocket who was noticed by the King of Persia, who adopted him and turned him into a Persian Prince. Gyllenhaal bulked up for the role and he looks quite handsome as he leaps and dances on rooftops and fences, then pulling himself up on windowsills and flying through the air. (For the record, Gyllenhaal did all his own stunts.) Gyllenhaal has a lot of charisma and charm in this movie.

Sharing the spotlight with two brothers, Dastan has become quite good at fighting, and has even been placed in charge of his own group of men. They take the king’s men to invade a nearby city – a holy city, no less – because their uncle Nizam (Ben Kingsley), has acquired evidence that this ancient outpost is manufacturing and providing weapons to Persia’s enemies. But even as they invade and capture this supposedly holy city, evidence emerges that, in fact, the uncle’s intelligence was false.

While trying to take down this neighboring holy kingdom that is said to have been ferrying weapons to their enemies, Dastan comes face to face with an unlikely woman – a beautiful woman – who will cause him to question everything about his past and future. This woman is played by Gemma Arterton (Clash of Titans, Quantum of Solace). She is Princess Tamina, the beautiful princess of the holy kingdom which is revered and “sacred.” She protects something mysterious and “sacred” within this city. 

Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time is at its best when Dastan is using a special dagger to travel through time. Ben Kingsley plays Dastan’s uncle and Alfred Molina is wonderful as an entrepreneur who travels with a band of thieves.

When Dastan is framed for the death of his father, he must find a way to clear his name. In doing so, he discovers that there were sinister motives to attacking that “sacred” city. The questions that surround Dastan include how he might survive and whether he will wind up with the princess of the neighboring city that he has helped attack.

I will stop here at this point. I don’t want to give away too much of the plot of this movie. It’s fun and surprising and beautiful. Filmed in Morroco, the scenery is lush and exotic, comprised of moonscape desert sands. And the costumes and special effects are breathtaking.

Produced by Jerry Bruckheimer, Mike Newell is the director of Prince of Persia: Boaz Yakin and Doug Miro wrote the script.

I recommend that you go to the theater, get a bag of popcorn and thoroughly enjoy this fantasy film. It is quite wonderful!

Oh. My. Gosh. This movie is wonderful. I was swept away from the first few moments into a world in 12th century England and I loved every moment of it. No one does this time period better than Russell Crowe. He is brilliant in his role as Robin Hood. Ridley Scott gave us the outstanding films, Gladiator and Kingdom of Heaven, which were superb. Now he gives us Robin Hood. I know many critics slammed Ridley’s new movie Robin Hood because it departs from the usual myths, but this is one reason I loved it so much. Instead, it adopts a narrative that comports very well with the historical narratives that have been discussed regarding English Liberalism and French Conservatism. The NY Times review of the movie offers this amusing take:

You may have heard that Robin Hood stole from the rich and gave to the poor, but that was just liberal media propaganda. This Robin is no socialist bandit practicing freelance wealth redistribution, but rather a manly Libertarian rebel striking out against high taxes and a big government scheme to trample the ancient liberties of property owners and provincial nobles. Don’t tread on him!

I totally agree. Set in 12th Century England, Robin Hood represents a common plea amongst citizens. Lower the taxes! His stand for the common man rings true today as it did in the 12th century.

If you don’t know a lot about the French and English history of the 12th century, you might get a bit lost in this movie. For historian buffs, I think they’ll love it. For me, it didn’t matter. The movie is simply wonderful whether you know the history or not. Filmed in England and France, the scenery is lush. The movie chronicles the adventures of Robin Longstride (Russell Crowe), a common archer in the army of King Richard the Lionheart (Danny Huston) during his 10-year Crusade to the Holy Land. With his Crusade over and his army badly demoralized, Richard is headed back home, sacking every French castle they cross to fund their retreat. After Lionheart is killed in battle, Robin and his group of men decide that 10 years is more than enough service to the Crown, and ditches the army for home. On their way back to England, they run across a French ambush led by the duplicitous Englishman Godfrey (Mark Strong), and the badly injured Sir Robert Loxley. Despite his better judgment, Robin agrees to take the dying Knight’s sword home to his father.

Meanwhile, back in England, Prince John (Oscar Isaac), the next in line to the throne, greets news of his brother Richard’s death. He immediately assigns Godfrey, unaware of the man’s treachery, to begin collecting owed taxes by any means necessary. Godfrey does this by bringing over French raiders to sack English towns, quickly turning the country’s Lords against their new King.

Robin arrives in Nottingham, where he delivers the sad news to Sir Walter Loxley (Max von Sydow) and Robert’s beautiful and suffering wife, Marion (Cate Blanchett), who only knew her husband for one week before he went off to the Crusade. Here, the kindly Lord makes Robin a deal he can’t refuse: pretend to be the dead Robert, so that Marion will retain their possessions once Walter passes. Robin agrees.

The story is very romantic and focuses on the “common man,” Robin, falling in love with the Lady Marion, who slowly but surely comes to accept him as a replacement husband and falls in love, as well. Marion Loxley was originally supposed to be played by the much younger Sienna Miller, but its director Ridley Scott’s good luck (as well as the audience’s) that Miller, for whatever reason, was replaced by Cate Blanchett, who is brilliant in the role. The much more mature actress brings instant credibility to the burgeoning love story between Robin and Marion, a necessity given that it takes up nearly an hour of the film’s two-hour plus running time. Eventually, though, Prince John’s stupidity and Godfrey’s French sucking comes to center stage, as the English must put aside their differences to battle the invading French forces.

Of the supporting cast, Max von Sydow is wonderful as a man who knows more about Robin than he does. Matthew Macfadyen, as the sleazy Sheriff of Nottingham, is appropriately sleazy and unlikeable. Robin Hood’s merry men get loud and rambunctious and add humor throughout the film. And Mark Addy as Friar Tuck is effective and fun, as well.

The film’s other major side character is William Hurt as William Marshal, a pivotal character who seems to know what’s going on at every time, and is satisfied to work in the background. Mark Strong, as the bad guy, is menacing as always in his “bad guy” roles. The movie never gives us a reason to understand his actions, save he’s the bad guy.

Robin Hood has a PG-13 rating. The battle scenes are not bloody at all and the violence is mild. It won’t offend anyone.

Scott has already said that he has envisioned a trilogy, and knows exactly where to take a sequel (or two) should Robin Hood’s box office prove fruitful. I hope it does because I’d love to see more of Robin Hood and Marion’s adventures.

An overview of the director and cast:

Director: …Ridley Scott/ Brian Helgeland, Ethan Reiff, Cyrus Voris (screenplay)
Cast: Russell Crowe … Robin Longstride
Cate Blanchett … Marion Loxley
Max von Sydow … Sir Walter Loxley
William Hurt … William Marshal
Mark Strong … Godfrey
Oscar Isaac … Prince John
Danny Huston … King Richard The Lionheart
Mark Addy … Friar Tuck
Matthew Macfadyen … Sheriff of Nottingham
Kevin Durand … Little John
Scott Grimes … Will Scarlet

Historical Note: Who was Robin Hood?

Robin Hood is portrayed in books, films and televisions programs as the fallen hero, a member of the nobility who was outcast and then fought back against tyranny. Yet this version of Robin Hood in the movie starring Russell Crowe is a relatively recent one and delving into history suggests that if Robin Hood did exist he was more likely a peasant or at best a small land owner.

As with any long-lived figure in the popular imagination — and the legend of the outlaw of Sherwood Forest and his Merry Men goes back to the Middle Ages — the answer changes with the times. In the movies he has been played most memorably by Errol Flynn, Kevin Costner, Clive Owen, and now by Russell Crowe. The history of the famous rebel suggests the version in Robin Hood films and books is a recent invention

Modern Robin Hood

The idea that Robin Hood was a member of the aristocracy can be traced back to 1598 and a play by Andrew Munday called: “The Downfall of and Death of Robert, Earl of Huntingdon.”
As the April 2010 Robin Hood special issue of Nottingham Arrow says: “In the 16th century, Robin was given a leg up the social ladder when poets and playwrights turned him from an ordinary man to a fallen nobleman – either Robert Fitzooth (Earl of Huntingdon) or Robert of Loxley.”

This gentrification of Robin Hood continued and in 1795, William Stukeley, a fellow of the Royal Society, made up a noble pedigree for Robin Hood and it is this fiction that is now repeated regularly in modern Robin Hood films and books.

Old Robin Hood

Historian Judy Cox has traced early references to Robin Hood in ballads written in the 1400s in which can be found the archery contests, clever disguises, daring rescues and fighting evil sheriffs that are the staple diet of modern television and film versions of Robin Hood.

Photo by Amy Sailer

‘Seeing is Believing: The Inspiring Story of Rwanda’ outshines other films at the Nashville Film Festival

Amy Sailer

Nashville businesswoman and entrepreneur, Amy Sailer, was one of 2,200 entries selected for this year’s 2010 Nashville Film Festival. Seeing is Believing: The Inspiring Story of Rwanda, is one of the major films screening in the World Cinema category at the festival, April 15-22 at the Regal Green Hills Cinema. This film will be among the 220 films showing from 38 different countries. Sailer’s film will be in good company – showing amongst other films including Nowhere Boy, the U.K. film that brings to life John Lennon as a spirited teenager. That will be a good film, but out of the deep well of all these foreign and domestic films, Sailer’s shines the brightest.

“Out beyond ideas of wrongdoing and rightdoing, There is a field…I’ll meet you there.”

                                                                                                              ~Rumi

The Rwandan Genocide was the 1994 mass killing of hundreds of thousands of Rwanda’s Tutsis and Hutu political moderates by the Hutu dominated government under the Hutu Power ideology. Over the course of approximately 100 days, or more, from the assassination of Juvenal Habyarimana on April 6 through mid-July, at least 800,000 people were killed, according to the estimate of Human Rights Watch. Other estimates of the death toll have ranged between 500,000 and 1,000,000, or as much as 20% of the total population of the country.

Photos by Amy Sailer

But, this is not what the documentary, Seeing is Believing: The Inspiring Story of Rwanda is about. Only 16 years after the worst episode of genocide in recent history – Rwanda is a thriving country full of hope, promise and profound change. One of a series of Seeing is Believing documentaries from around the world of ordinary people doing extraordinary things, The Inspiring Story of Rwanda is produced and directed by Amy Sailer, a Nashville entrepreneur and video producer. Her goal is to produce documentaries that uplift and inspire people in their own everyday world. The Inspiring Story of Rwanda is Sailer’s vision, her voice, her handprint on a story that is extraordinary.

Photos By Amy Sailer

To put it simply, this film is wonderful. Uplifting. Survivor stories don’t get much more compelling than this. The Inspiring Story of Rwanda focuses on the love in this little country. This film brings images to life in a way that few other forms of media can. The documentary tells in vivid detail how Rwanda is moving toward the future by forgiving those of the past and embracing the love of life. They are becoming entrepreneurs, students and teachers to the world. Teachers who teach about forgiveness and the courage to live your life in the best possible way. 

“You must be the change you wish to see in the world.”

                                  ~Mahatma Gandhi

Rwandans are accomplishing things no one outside the country could have predicted. Their goal was to heal their terrible wounds, bridge their tribal divides and lift themselves from a third world country that was 100% dependent on foreign aid, to a middle-income country – in one generation.  They are half way there. Several Rwandans, as well as businesspeople from the U.K. and U.S. are featured in the documentary.

Egide Rugiwizangoga

Egide Rugiwizangoga, owner of Rwanda Mountain Safaris, is a genocide survivor who tells his story about the loss of his family. However, what is so extraordinary is that he doesn’t harbor resentment or hatred for those responsible for the genocide. Instead, he believes in forgiving them and is looking to the future for prosperity and happiness.

Bizab Abdul   

Meddy Saleh

Bizab Abdul, a Rwandan, plus music producer on the film and owner of “The Future Production,” sets the tone and pace of the documentary with music comprised of Afrikaans. It is wonderful. Featured in the film, he talks about his hope for his country.

Dave Ormesher

At the personal invitation of the president of Rwanda, Western business people have been invited to partner with Rwandans to grow the country through their entrepreneurial efforts. One of these is Dave Ormesher, Chairman of the Board of Global Relief Development Partners (GRDP). He said he didn’t know what to expect when he went to Rwanda. All he knew was what he had seen in the movie, Hotel Rwanda, starring Don Cheadle, which focused mostly on the genocide. After going to Rwanda, Ormesher said that he saw “promise in pockets.” The mission of the organization, GRDP, is to inspire and strengthen promising entrepreneurial leaders achieve growth by giving them direct access to experienced entrepreneurs in North America, enabling them to tap into world-class leadership, professional, technical, and financial resources. Their current focus is to build creative partnerships between experienced entrepreneurs in the United States and established entrepreneurs in Rwanda.

Serena Hotel at Lake Kivu

“My interest is in the future, as I’m going to be spending the rest of my life there.”

                                ~Charles Kettering

Bishop John Rucyahana, author of The Bishop of Rwanda, is also featured in the film. He says, “You see, we have no time. You have to build with one hand and wipe a tear with another one. If you forgive, you’ll feel better. You’ll sleep better.”

The film is mosaic-esque in its very formation – born of fragments, snapshots, interviews with local and foreign businessmen, professionals, everyday people, which form a pointillist whole. The color palette of the cinematography, shot by Rwandan Meddy Saleh, Director of Photography, is vibrant and lush with scenes that vary from gorillas playing in the wild to busy city streets to citizens laying fiber optic cable with plans to “become Africa’s high tech” hub.

Not only have the people there come together to rebuild a nation, but also the personal stories of forgiveness and reconciliation are beyond anything we’ve ever known. This powerful story is simultaneously a love letter to a courageous country and an eye-opener to the reality of Rwanda’s people. While some documentaries suffer from a detached air, such is not the case with this one. Sailer’s perceptive ability to tell the story of the soul of the Rwandans is what makes the film touching and unforgettable.  This treasure of a film will surely survive the test of time. Go see it at the festival. Everyone.

Amy and friends in Rwanda

The Inspiring Story of Rwanda is the first film in Amy Sailer’s Seeing is Believing collection and was filmed entirely on location in Rwanda, where Sailer served as Executive Producer/Director. Sailer, president of SlyWind™ Productions, has been producing short inspirational videos including Call of Soul, Holy Ground, and Paradise for over 7 years, which have been screened in the U.S., Europe and Asia and have received critical acclaim.  Sailer’s journeys have taken her to Europe, Canada, Asia, Africa, and throughout the U.S.  Sailer, an accomplished musician/composer, also wrote the soundtracks for these films.  She formed her production company as a venue to produce uplifting and inspiring programming for television and film. 

Sheila Higgins

Also, Producer and Editor on The Inspiring Story of Rwanda is Sheila Higgins, who has worked as a director, producer, editor and videographer with a passion for projects that shine a light on the human experience.  Ms. Higgin’s documentary experience includes Our Story about a little boy with cancer who had a dream to change the world, The Making of a Major League for FOX Sports Network, as well as the award winning special, The Horse Whisperer.

For more information about the Nashville Film Festival, please visit them online at: wwwNashvilleFilmFestival.org. A promo of Seeing is Believing: The Inspiring Story of Rwanda can be seen on YouTube under its title. Also, visit the website: www.SeeingisBelieving.tv.

 Also, see film review at my Examiner.com column: http://tinyurl.com/yypmn34.

Gandhi said that whatever you do in life will be insignificant. But it’s very important that you do it. I tend to agree with the first part.

                              ~Tyler Hawkins (Robert Pattinson in “Remember Me”)

The new romantic drama, Remember Me, is palpable, moody, somber, heartfelt, life-altering. And, it is remarkable. It is a stunning work of art. At times, I would have liked for some of the scenes to be extended further and the dialogue developed more cohesively, but perhaps that was the point. Non-cohesiveness in the lives of the characters who are grappling with creating cohesiveness in their painful worlds. Dealing with grief over the deaths of loved ones is one of the themes of this movie. And, those emotions are not dialogue-perfect.

The movie’s flaws are – in my opinion – its strengths. Remember Me emulates life completely. Life is flawed. Our emotions are flawed. We see these flaws and emotions through Tyler Hawkins, played beautifully by Robert Pattinson, the grieving, angst-ridden 21-year-old NYU student who sits in a coffee shop and pours all those conflicted feelings into a battered journal. (One can easily visualize Robert Pattinson doing this in his everyday life.) Pattinson, one of the world’s hottest young stars on the planet, is perfect in this role. A seemingly rather shy actor who catapulted into fame in his Twilight movie roles – who openly discusses his limitations and anxieties, he brings this vulnerability to the screen in Remember Me. No matter what Pattinson looks like – whether he has cuts and bruises on his face or is soaked from a pot of cold spaghetti water, he is insanely gorgeous. An other-worldly gorgeous set apart from all the pretty boys in Hollywood. And it is because of Pattinson that the film works.

The story itself is set in New York City in the early 2000s. Tyler is still grieving from the suicide death of his brother some years ago.  This shattered the whole family. One night, after coming out of a bar,Tyler drunkenly mouths off to, and shoves Sgt. Craig (Chris Cooper) and gets beaten up by the cop.  Craig has his own share of problems since his wife was murdered on the subway in front of his young daughter 10 years ago. Now that daughter, Ally, (Emile de Ravin of the TV show, Lost) is grown-up and a student at NYU. Tyler’s roommate is Aidan Hall, played effectively by Tate Ellington, who had some of the best lines in the movie. He pushes Tyler to date Ally and get back at her father.

What begins as a revenge date with Ally soon turns into something more. Something sensitive, loving and whole. Since Ally’s another victim of tragedy, that mutual society of unprocessed pain becomes their central bond, and the central plot device driving the movie. Both have family issues. Tyler is agitated by his father, played by Pierce Brosnan, who is emotionally isolated from Tyler and his little sister, Caroline Hawkins, played by adorable, delightful Ruby Jerins. By the way, Ruby steals every scene she’s in. Ally, meanwhile, has problems with her over-protective father, who’s having trouble with his daughter growing up.

Remember Me’s screenwriter, Will Fetters, in his first feature, is good although the dialogue could have been extended in some scenes to more fully flesh out the emotions of that scene. However, Fetters has a particularly good ear for the moods of twentysomethings, as they waver between anger and self-doubt.

Directed by Allen Coulter, (Hollywoodland, The Sopranos, Nurse Jackie) the pace is rhythmic and methodical – never too fast or too slow. And, it is beautifully shot.

Rob Pattinson and Emile De Ravin share a sweet chemistry onscreen as the film explores dramatic family relationships. Both of them take this New York-centric indie flick and give it honest, emotional and heartfelt roots. Ally’s attraction to Tyler is credible. This is a relationship that is built on shared pain and struggles with family, and the movie has the courage to let the characters work through both factors; the pain and the family. This is the beauty of the film.

Pattinson also has some stellar scenes with Brosnan, who’s making a new career out of very interesting bit parts. But some of Tyler’s best scenes are with his little sister, Caroline; they share a very warm, sweet and loving relationship. There’s a J. D. Salinger quality to these scenes – and also in the intimate sequences with his girlfriend, Ally. Tyler’s mother is played by Lena Olin and though her scenes are limited, she brings a warmth and understanding to Tyler’s family.

And now. The ending. A shocker. (And I had prepared myself with a wad of tissues to be shocked because of all the spoilers online.) But, I didn’t see it coming. No one will be left unaffected with the surprise ending. Many critics are calling the ending a “cop out,” but I thought it was effective and reminiscent of things that happen in life beyond our control. Tragic things. And, it doesn’t matter because what ultimately matters in Remember Me is all that comes before the ending.

To recap:

Remember Me is literate, sensitive, funny, and engaging. And wonderful. Robert Pattinson is perfect and James Dean-like in his role as Tyler Hawkins. Emile de Ravin shines as sweet, precocious Ally. Pierce Brosnan is superb and Ruby Jerins is primed to become a famous actor.

The movie has a powerful message that should not be overlooked. What’s important in life is the journey – never the destination. Remember Me is a good reminder of this.

Go see this movie today. It will affect you. It will “heart” you.

          “We leave fingerprints on everyone we touch.”

                           ~Tyler Hawkins (Twilight’s Robert Pattinson)

“Love is life. All, everything that I understand, I understand only because I love. Everything is, everything exists, only because I love. Everything is united by it alone. Love is God, and to die means that I, a particle of love, shall return to the general and eternal source.”

~Count Leo Tolstoy (1828-1910)

Michael Hoffman’s The Last Station is wonderful. Even if you don’t know much about Tolstoy or aren’t familiar with his writings, you’ll love this historically accurate movie.  James McAvoy, Helen Mirren, and Christopher Plummer offer a grand display of acting fireworks in The Last Station, writer-director Michael Hoffman’s juicy account of the tumultuous final year of Count Leo Tolstoy’s life.

In essence, the period dramedy is about the relationship between Tolstoy and his wife, Sofya (Mirren). It’s honest in its look at the ups and downs of married life. Tolstoy and Sofya are at war over Tolstoy’s legacy—a clash between ideals and reality, the flesh and the spirit. Tolstoy (Plummer) has renounced his title, thrown away material goods, his property, eating meat, and preached celibacy, (although he certainly didn’t practice it in his life) and helped develop the concept of passive resistance (one that he would pass along to Gandhi via letters). He is also about to sign away the rights to his novels to “the Russian people”—to the horror of his wife, Sofya. She’s determined to keep him from giving away his family’s inheritance, while the fanatical head of the Tolstoy movement, Chertkov (Paul Giamatti), is dead set on getting Tolstoy to sign.

Caught in the middle is young Valentin Bulgakov (James McAvoy), Tolstoy’s secretary, whom both Sofya and Chertkov try to inveigle to their cause. By the final year of his life, Tolstoy has thrown away material goods, preached celibacy (although didn’t practice it), and helped develop the very concept of passive resistance (one that he would pass along to Gandhi via letters).

In 1910, Tolstoy is still writing and riding horseback, and he is the most revered author of his time. He lives on a grand country estate and presides from a distance over a quasi-political cult/commune in which young adherents do farm labor while trying to adhere to tenets of Tolstoyan philosophy such as pacifism, social equality, vegetarianism and celibacy – all rules Tolstoy personally admits difficulty in adhering to.

It’s clear in this retelling of Tolstoy’s life, that the first and most important moon around this planet was his wife Sofya, a woman who was by his side during the writing of Anna Karenina and who transcribed War and Peace six times by hand. She’s stood by and watched in lonely horror and isolation as his new philosophies and increased fame has pulled her husband further away from her. (They were celebrities in their time and the paparazzi stalked them just like they stalk celebrities today).

Tolstoy loves his wife, but she is a devotee of Italian opera and is melodramatic herself. She has given her husband 13 children in their 48-year marriage. Sofya struggles to hold on to the work of her life – Tolstoy and her marriage. She tries to recapture the romance and fire of their earlier years of marriage, but doesn’t succeed very often.

Meanwhile, the abrasive Chertkov (Paul Giamatti) wants Tolstoy to leave his works to the Russian people and when he’s not bending the author’s ear to such an end, he’s hiring a young man named Valentin (James McAvoy) to infiltrate the group of followers circling the legend known as Tolstoyans and report back on the private conversations between Leo and Sofya. Sofya resents Chertkov – justifiably so. Chertkov seems a picture-perfect Communist-in-training. He tells Valentin that Sofya is very dangerous.

The film has received two Oscar nods: Christopher Plummer , for Supporting Actor and Helen Mirren for Leading Actress. Both of them deliver outstanding performances and could certainly win. James McAvoy is also wonderful as Valentin and Anne-Marie Duff is cute and spunky as Sasha.

The movie was written and directed by Michael Hoffman, based on the novel by Jay Parini.

The Last Station costars: 
Sofya – Helen Mirren
Tolstoy – Christopher Plummer
Chertkov – Paul Giamatti
Valentin – James McAvoy
Sasha – Anne-Marie Duff
Masha – Kerry Condon
Dushan – John Sessions
Sergeyenko – Patrick Kennedy

Shot on location in Germany, the film and costumes are gorgeous. The film is dedicated to the late Anthony Quinn.

About Leo Tolstoy (Count Lev Nikolayevich):  A Russian writer widely regarded as among the greatest of novelists. His masterpieces War and Peace and Anna Karenina represent in their scope, breadth and vivid depiction of 19th-century Russian life and attitudes, the peak of realist fiction. He is also the author of popular novellas such as Hadji Murad and The Death of Ivan Ilyich.  Tolstoy’s earliest works, the autobiographical novels Childhood, Boyhood, and Youth (1852–1856), tell of a rich landowner’s son and his slow realization of the chasm between himself and his peasants. Though he later rejected them as sentimental, a great deal of Tolstoy’s own life is revealed. They retain their relevance as accounts of the universal story of growing up.