Falkenberg Farewell: Avoiding Adulthood

Photo: Memfis Film When this film premiered, I realized that I was probably not the only one in the audience who kept thinking back to the period in life depicted…

The Holiday 

Amanda and Iris (Cameron Diaz, Kate Winslet) agree to change homes over Christmas; in Surrey, England Amanda runs into the charming Graham (Jude Law), and in L.A. Iris socializes with…

The Wicker Man 

Cop Edward Malus (Nicolas Cage) goes to a small Washington island to look for a missing girl; what he finds is an isolated, mysterious community ruled by women. Director Neil…

Gladiator: Echoing in Eternity

Russell Crowe. Photo: Universal Gladiator is one of those films that opened as early as May, without all that much fanfare, and then kept building until the Oscars many months…

Cloverfield: Finishing al-Qaeda’s Work

Photo: Paramount The marketing campaign was brilliant. Few had talked about Cloverfield before the first teaser trailer, but after that it was on everybody’s mind. What is this? A disaster…

The American President

Widowed President Andrew Shepherd (Michael Douglas) falls for an environmental lobbyist (Annette Bening), but dating has political consequences for a man in his position. Another charming romantic comedy from Rob…

Basic Instinct 2 

London psychologist Michael Glass (David Morrissey) reluctantly takes on the psychopathic Catherine Tramell (Sharon Stone) who is suspected of another killing. The sequel tries to be more clever than cheap;…

Trail of the Pink Panther 

On a trip to Lugash where the Pink Panther diamond once again has been stolen, Clouseau’s (Peter Sellers) plane disappears into the ocean. The seventh Pink Panther flick was made…

I Know What You Did Last Summer 

On graduation night, four high school students accidentally hit a pedestrian with their car; they dump the body into the ocean, but that’s not the last they hear of their…