American Gangster (DVD)

American Gangster (2007) starring Denzel Washington, Russell Crowe, Ruby Dee, Cuba Gooding Jr., Josh Brolin. Washington portrays true-life Harlem drug lord Frank Lucas, and Crowe plays the outcast NYPD cop charged with bringing Lucas down. Set against the backdrop of the societal upheaval of the Vietnam War, this is a pretty intense film, especially when Washington is on screen. Crowe's scenes are, oddly, more subdued. Directed by Ridley Scott. Both the theatrical and unrated, extended versions are included on this disc. Grade: B

The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford (DVD)

The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford (2007) starring Brad Pitt, Casey Affleck, Mary-Louise Parker, Sam Rockwell, Sam Shepard, Zooey Deschanel. The title pretty much tells the whole story of the movie. Jesse James is played by Brad Pitt, and Robert Ford is played by Casey Affleck. Initially an admirer of James, Ford tries to join his gang for a train job. Somehow, over the course of the two-and-a-half-hour film, Ford grows to resent and fear James, and ends up shooting him in the back out of fear and for the reward money. There's plenty of material here to make an exciting and tense Western, but the movie meanders over the long middle section, concentrating on secondary characters and failing to really explore the character of Robert Ford. Grade: B-

The Water Horse: Legend of the Deep (DVD)

The Water Horse: Legend of the Deep (2007) starring Alex Etel, Emily Watson, David Morrissey. Pretty good children's film about how a young boy discovers and befriends the Loch Ness monster. Set during World War II, it largely tells the story from the young lad's point of view. It's all in Scottish-accented English, so I found the subtitles on the DVD to be very useful. This could be a decent family film, though there's not much originality for adults to enjoy. Grade: B

I Am Legend (DVD)

I Am Legend (2007) starring Will Smith. A virus, bio-engineered to be a cure for cancer, mutates and spreads. It turns humans and dogs into bloodthirsty monsters called hemocytes -- except for one percent of the population, who are immune. One such immune man, scientist Robert Neville (Smith), has stayed in New York City. While he searches for a cure to the disease, he goes out during the day to find supplies. It's the only time when it is safe for him to venture forth, because the infected humans and animals cannot endure sunlight. This movie is pretty well done, but it seems to me that it combines too many elements from movies that went before. Grade: B

The Kite Runner (DVD)

The Kite Runner (2007) starring Khalid Abdalla. Twenty years after fleeing Afghanistan in the face of the Soviet Union's 1979 invasion, an Afghan man returns from America to his Taliban-ruled homeland. He's on a mission to rescue the orphan nephew he never knew he had, and it's a risky endeavor. "The Kite Runner" is a story of loyalty, courage and redemption, and it is mostly true to the book. Based on the best-selling novel by Khaled Hosseini. Grade: A-

Dan in Real Life (DVD)

Dan in Real Life (2007) starring Steve Carell, Juliette Binoche, Mitch Burns, Dianne Wiest, John Mahoney, Emily Blunt, Alison Pill, Brittany Robertson, Marlene Lawston, Dane Cook. Carell plays Dan Burns, a widowed father of three girls. During a family reunion at the grandparents' house, Dan goes to the bookstore to pick up a newspaper and instantly falls in love with a woman named Marie (Binoche) he meets there. The catch? She's actually his brother's new girlfriend. He must pretend that he doesn't know her -- or so he thinks, anyway. There are so many awkward or downright unbelievable scenes in this movie that I couldn't even try to list them all. Example: Dan hides in Marie's (running) shower while his daughter has a heart-to-heart with Marie. Then when the shower is "ready," Marie must disrobe and join him in the shower. And his daughter never notices anything is amiss.
Along similar lines, the pairing of Carell and Binoche as a romantic couple is just totally unbelievable. Binoche is a wonderful actress, but she seems like a fish out of water here. I never for a moment felt the chemistry that was supposed to be happening between her and Carell.
And lastly, there just wasn't enough really clever comedy in this romantic comedy. Grade: C+

Bee Movie (DVD)

Bee Movie (2007) with the voices of Jerry Seinfeld, Renee Zellweger, Matthew Broderick, Patrick Warburton, John Goodman, Chris Rock, Kathy Bates, Barry Levinson. Animated fare in which a bee (Seinfeld) makes friends with a human (Zellweger), then becomes alarmed to learn that humans are bottling and selling honey. Unfortunately, the movie is generally uninspired. The animation lacks pizazz, the script lacks imagination, and most of the jokes fall flat. It's modestly amusing at best. Grade: B-

The Hunting Party (DVD)

The Hunting Party (2007) starring Richard Gere, Terrence Howard, Jesse Eisenberg, Diane Kruger, Goran Kostic, James Brolin. A trio of journalists set out to locate Bosnia's most notorious war criminal, known as "the Fox." But the locals refuse to believe they are really journalists, instead suspecting that they are a team of CIA assassins. It's a post-Cold War thriller with a comic twist, and I enjoyed it thoroughly. Written and directed by Richard Shepard. Grade: B+

Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story (DVD)

Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story (2007) starring John C. Reilly, Jenna Fischer, Kristen Wiig, Tim Meadows. Loopy faux biography of Dewey Cox, a singer for all styles and all decades. John C. Reilly does a good job in the lead role, but the script leaves something to be desired. The jokes just aren't funny enough or original enough, and neither are the songs. I'd put this one in the near-miss category and call it mildly amusing. Grade: B-

No Country for Old Men (DVD)

No Country for Old Men (2007) starring Josh Brolin, Tommy Lee Jones, Javier Bardem. A hunter (Brolin) stumbles on the scene of a drug deal gone bad in the desert, including several dead bodies and $2 million in cash. He absconds with the money, and thus begins a horror-comedy-chase story that ends in just about everyone getting killed. Directed by Joel and Ethan Coen from the novel by Cormac McCarthy. Winner of four Oscars, including Best Picture. Grade: A-

Into the Wild (DVD)

Into the Wild (2007) starring Emile Hirsch, William Hurt, Marcia Gay Harden, Catherine Keener, Vince Vaughn, Hal Holbrook, Jena Malone. A young man (Hirsch) gives up his safe, middle-class existence to seek ultimate freedom in remote Alaska. He travels on foot, usually alone, but meets an assortment of characters along the journey. In the back woods of Alaska, starving and living in a deserted bus, he comes to his ultimate wisdom -- that happiness is not real unless shared. But the insight comes too late for him; the story ends movingly, but not happily. We can't criticize the way it ends, however, because it is based on a true story. What we can criticize is its length -- it clocks in at two and a half hours. Holbrook was nominated for an Oscar for his supporting role, as an old man who wants to adopt the young traveler. Directed by Sean Penn. Grade: B+

Sweeney Todd (DVD)

Sweeney Todd, The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (2007) starring Johnny Depp, Helena Bonham Carter, Alan Rickman, Timothy Spall, Sacha Baron Cohen, Jayne Wisener, Ed Sanders. Adaptation of the hit Broadway musical, in which Depp plays Sweeney Todd, a man who becomes a deranged murderer seeking revenge after being falsely imprisoned. Bonham Carter plays Mrs. Lovett, Todd's lover, who disposes of his victims by baking them into meat pies. The story has darkly humorous and tragic dimensions, but mostly it's just a bloody downer. Directed by Tim Burton. Grade: C-

My Kid Could Paint That (DVD)

My Kid Could Paint That (2007) directed by Amir Bar-Lev. Sensitive and thought-provoking documentary about precocious four-year-old artist Marla Olmstead. Is she a prodigy along the lines of young Mozart, who started composing at the age of four, or is her artwork a fraud that was influenced by her father? She has already sold paintings totaling $300,000, so certainly some people are convinced. This film doesn't come up with any definitive answers, but it gives you a lot of food for thought. The extras on the DVD are instructive, too. Marla, by the way, is now 7. Grade: A

The Brave One (DVD)

The Brave One (2007) starring Jodie Foster, Terrence Howard, Mary Steenburgen, Nicky Katt. Foster stars as a New York radio show host who turns vigilante when her fiance is beaten to death. Howard plays the cop who takes a while to realize that she is the killer he's looking for. Comes close to being a standard revenge flick, but has subtleties that save it. Foster and Howard are excellent. Directed by Neil Jordan. Grade: B+

Love Unto Death (DVD)

Love Unto Death (1984) starring Pierre Arditi, Sabine Azema. Simon and Elisabeth are a happy couple until Simon suffers a severe seizure. The movie then becomes a meditation on how to sustain love when facing one's own mortality. In French, with English subtitles. Grade: B-

Life Is a Bed of Roses (DVD)

Life Is a Bed of Roses (1983). Alain Resnais directs this three-part tribute to French filmmakers Georges Melies, Marcel L'Herbier and Eric Rohmer. It's a bizarre little movie that combines elements of fantasy, intellectualism and science fiction. Although it gets good reviews elsewhere, I have to give it a Grade: D.

Atonement (DVD)

Atonement (2007) starring Keira Knightley, James McAvoy, Saoirse Ronan, Brenda Blethyn, Vanessa Redgrave. It's 1935 in England, and the coming war with Germany is just a rumor. A 13-year-old girl (Ronan) misinterprets a moment of passion between her sister (Kinghtley) and a servant's son (McAvoy). From the girl's fevered imagination springs an accusation, fingering the servant's son for a crime he did not commit, and irrevocably altering the lives of all involved. It's a melancholy tale, and well told. Nominated for an Oscar as Best Picture. Based on the novel by Ian McEwan. Grade: A-

Enchanted (DVD)

Enchanted (2007) starring Amy Adams, Patrick Dempsey, James Marsden, Timothy Spall, Susan Sarandon. Adams is utterly charming in the roll of Giselle, a would-be princess who is cast out of a Disney cartoon-existence into the mean streets of New York by her wicked stepmother-to-be (Sarandon). Dempsey is adequate as the three-dimensional New Yorker she meets and (of course) falls in love with. Marsden is amusing as her not-too-bright Prince Charming, although in reality his name is Prince Edward. It all ends happily ever after and no doubt will live on in the hearts of a generation of girls forever. Grade: B+

Michael Clayton (DVD)

Michael Clayton (2007) starring George Clooney, Tom Wilkinson, Tilda Swinton, Sydney Pollack, Michael O'Keefe. One of the best movies of 2007, with Clooney starring as Michael Clayton, a burned-out, tapped out fixer for a top-drawer law firm. Although he is an attorney, he is best at solving special problems for the firm. When his good friend Arthur (Wilkinson) becomes one of the problems, Clayton becomes enmeshed in a plot to beat down a class-action suit being brought by victims of a pesticide company. It's beautifully played by Clooney, and could easily have won the Oscar for Best Screenplay. What it did win was an Oscar for supporting actress Tilda Swinton, and we'll have to be content with that. As for me, I'm going to keep the disc and watch it again, to see if those few loose ends I thought I detected were real or imagined. Grade: A-

Things We Lost in the Fire (DVD)

Things We Lost in the Fire (2007) starring Benicio Del Toro, Halle Berry, David Duchovny. Berry plays Audrey, the grieving widow of Brian (Duchovny), and Del Toro plays Brian's best friend, Jerry, now a recovering heroin addict. Audrey and Jerry lean on each other in bearing their life burdens. The script, unfortunately, is slow-moving and there doesn't seem to be much chemistry among the players. Grade: C