AWN Blogs

The best move this courtroom drama does is stay out of the courtroom for most of its running time. The final court proceeding doesn't even make an appearance. Director Steven Soderbergh (SEX, LIES & VIDEOTAPE) and writer Susannah Grant (IN HER SHOES) find a way to have the revelatory happy ending that is a staple of this kind of film without a judge ruling innocent or guilty and a courtroom full of people jumping to their feet. These moves make the story about the investigation and not the theatrics. It gives it heart.

The film takes its title from its central character, Erin Brockovich (Julia Roberts, MYSTIC PIZZA), a poor single mother who provokes with her blunt statements and skimpy clothing. After a car accident, she hires lawyer Ed Masry (Albert Finney, TOM JONES) to represent her. Following the court case (one of only two courtroom scenes), Brockovich pressures her way into a job at Masry's firm. She is assigned a real estate case, which includes medical records. Wondering why the two are connected, she looks into the case more and discovers that in Hinkley, California PG&E have been contaminating the groundwater with chromium 6, which is causing the residents to have numerous and varying health problems. Turns out, the power company has been covering up the problem and Brockovich makes it her mission to make them pay.

I remember the reaction to this shocking film when it first came out. It became a lightning rod for debate. The big secret has become common knowledge, however I will still avoid revealing it in this review. After 15 years since its release, there are younger viewers who may still be innocent in their film history to not know the twist. Having not seen the film until after learning the secret, the impact of the film wasn't ruined, however I can only imagine the shock for those lucky enough to go into the film unaware. I wouldn't want to ruin that for anyone, because the twist is amazingly handled and can only add to the freshness of the first experience if unknown.

The story begins as British soldier Jody (Forest Whitaker, THE LAST KING OF SCOTLAND) is lured into a kidnapping trap by IRA member Jude (Miranda Richardson, SPIDER). The IRA wants to trade Jody for one of their members who is under interrogation. Fergus (Stephen Rea, MICHAEL COLLINS), a humane IRA soldier, is assigned to watch Jody and over a few days the two men develop a friendship. Jody asks Fergus to visit his girl Dil (Jaye Davidson, STARGATE) in London if he is eventually killed. This opening sequence concludes in a very unexpected and ironic way. Following this, Fergus ends up in London going by the name Jimmy. He finds Dil, who works as a hairdresser by day and a singer in a pub at night. Fergus/Jimmy protects her from an abusive boyfriend, soon developing a romantic relationship with her. His secret of kidnapping Jody weighs on his soul, but he will find out that Dil has her own secrets as well. Fergus/Jimmy wants to protect Dil, but his violent past will come back to haunt him.

This Cannes Film Festival's Palme d'Or winner looks at the activities of the Irish Republican Army during the 1920s. Titling the film after a 19th century song that became a symbol of the Irish Republican movement, British director Ken Loach brings his longtime writing collaborator Paul Laverty's ironic screenplay to intriguing life as he balances between the characters and the intellectual underpinnings of the story.

After returning from a game of hurling, Damien (Cillian Murphy, BREAKFAST ON PLUTO) and some of his friends are accosted by British soldiers. It is the law that the Irish cannot congregate in groups even for sport. The incident turns violent and afterward Damien's older brother Teddy (Padraic Delaney, TV's THE TUDORS) urges the young doctor to join the Irish Republican Army. We watch as he trains and engages in the IRA's guerilla-style war against the British forces. Once a treaty is signed, the brother's find themselves on opposite sides — Damien on the anti-treaty IRA and Teddy on the pro-treaty Irish Free State. During the course of the story, Damien will have his morality tested in the face of the cause.

Based on the award-winning THE DEATH OF SUPERMAN comic book series, this animated direct-to-DVD feature earns its PG-13 rating. It was produced and co-written by Bruce Timm, who brought BATMAN: THE ANIMATED SERIES to TV. Like that superior series, this movie has a mature quality, but that's not to pigeonhole it into the "adult" animation category, which so often includes forced "edgy" content. The maturity of the material comes from its more emotional character driven side, as well as its violence. This quality is what made BATMAN a series that could attract children, who could grow up and return to the series not wondering what their younger selves were thinking.

The story begins with Superman (Adam Baldwin, SERENITY) in a relationship with Lois Lane (Anne Heche, 1998's PSYCHO) as Clark Kent is heading off to Afghanistan on assignment. Lex Luthor (James Marsters, TV's BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER) is running his LexCorp as corruptly as ever. During an illegal mining operation, his men dig up an alien spacecraft and inadvertently unleash Doomsday, a virtually indestructible killing machine. Superman races to confront the beast and, as a result of his unprecedented beating, dies.

With the extended edition of Quentin Tarantino's half of GRINDHOUSE racing onto DVD this week, I felt I'd turn This Weekend's Film Festival over to him. His DEATH PROOF is a badass car chase flick. Within it, he has his characters gush over three films that fall into that same category, which are all featured in this week's lineup. I've also included a road movie that doesn't feature cars, but motorcycles. If it weren't for this film, the anti-establishment road movie wouldn't even exist. So gas up your tanks for This Weekend's Film Festival — it's an adrenaline ride for all the cinematic grease monkeys out there.

With the lackluster box office performance of GRINDHOUSE, Miramax has elected to initially release both halves as separate films on DVD. Therefore, Friday night feature is only DEATH PROOF, but don't let that scare you off. Tarantino's slasher/car chase opus puts the grrr is girl power. Almost working as two films of its own, the story sets up its killer than sics him on another group of victims. The tale is full of Tarantino's signature dialogue, which slyly sets up the characters and building sympathy by focusing his camera on key moments. The final car chase filmed without visual effects has a real old school visceral feel to it. Anchored by really believable performances, Tarantino doesn't spoof B-movies, like Robert Rodriguez did with GRINDHOUSE's first half PLANET TERROR; he makes a good one. To find out more about the entire GRINDHOUSE experience, read my original review and be on the lookout for my forthcoming look at the extended cut of DEATH PROOF.

Director Neil Jordon (THE CRYING GAME), along with top-notched performances from Jodie Foster and Terrence Howard, takes many of the conventions of the revenge thriller and weaves them into a sad reflection on lose and violence. The emotional honesty for 99% of the running time moves the viewer over the contrivances. When the build up began for the final revenge shootout, I wasn't rooting for the vigilante; I was scared for her, because her anger had now clouded her good judgment.

Erica Bain (Foster) is a radio talk show host, who tries to capture the sounds and sense of New York City. She is about to marry doctor David Kirmani (Naveen Andrews, TV's LOST) until they are attacked viciously by three men during a walk in Central Park one night, leaving her in a coma and her fiancé dead. After her recovery, Erica has a hard time adjusting to her old life. After a long period isolated in her house, she wills herself to leave, buying a gun for protection. Then late one night, Erica gets in the middle of an act of violence, leading to her shooting a man. From this point forward, she unconsciously then consciously goes looking for violent confrontations. Detective Mercer (Howard, HUSTLE & FLOW) is a lonely cop, who is frustrated with a system that lets criminals go free. He is assigned to catch the new vigilante killer plaguing the streets of NYC. A twist of fate brings Erica and Detective Mercer together. They form a friendship, but will it last once he begins to suspect her?

Though it may be more developed than TALLEDEGA NIGHTS, BLADES OF GLORY starts out like a mid-level speed skater, but ultimately limps across the finish line by embracing clichés instead of cutting them down. There are laughs to be had and far less awkwardly unfunny moments as star Will Ferrell's previous sports spoof, but it never takes its premise further than some PG-13 potty humor.

Chazz Michael Michaels (Ferrell) and Jimmy MacElroy (Jon Heder, NAPOLEON DYNAMITE) are the premiere male figure skaters in the world. However, their personalities are like fire and ice. Michaels is a sex-addicted bad boy loner while MacElroy is an effeminate lyrical performer. After tying at a championship event, the rivals get into a brawl on the medals stand, which leads to their lifetime ban from their division. However, after their lives have fallen apart, they discover a loophole — they can skate in the pairs division. MacElroy's former coach (Craig T. Nelson, TV's COACH) convinces the former rivals to team up, forming the first male figure skating partnership. This infuriates brother-sister champs Stranz and Fairchild Van Waldenburg (Will Arnett, TV's ARRESTED DEVELOPMENT & Amy Poehler, MEAN GIRLS). After MacElroy develops a crush on their younger sister Katie (Jenna Fischer, TV's THE OFFICE), the Van Waldenburgs plot to rip Jimmy and Chazz's partnership apart.

This sad inspection of how death affects children and adults alike is painful, humorous and, at times, melodramatic, but always insightful when looking at how profoundly the actions of parents change their children. Director Michael Cuesta and writer Anthony Cipriano have crafted a look at how tragedy at a young age can sometimes cause arrested development, while never falling into the common pitfalls of films that deal with children by surrounding them with cookie cutter adults. In covering the lives of three friends, the filmmakers understand that there are more influences in their lives than just each other.

Jacob and Rudy Carges (both played by Conor Donovon, THE DEPARTED) are twin brothers, however Jacob was born with a large pink birthmark over one side of his face. When we first meet the brothers, Jacob is hiding behind his new hockey mask as the duo fends off their treehouse from bullies. Their best friends are the bold Malee (Zoe Weizenbaum, MEMOIRS OF A GEISHA) and the overweight Leonard (Jesse Camacho, TV's RUDY: THE RUDY GIULIANI STORY). When a tragic accident leads to the death of Ruby, each of the three children handles it differently, confronting their fears in various ways.

As PAN'S LABYRINTH was picking by Academy Awards for Best Art Direction, Cinematography and Makeup, it surprised some when Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck's first feature film walked away with the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film. More traditional Oscar fare than Guillermo del Toro's breathtaking fantasy, THE LIVES OF OTHERS has the intelligence and emotion of great drama, but the urgency of a top-notched political thriller. Set a few years before the Berlin Wall fell, the film investigates the overreaching practice of the East German government to spy on its citizens.

Top spy Gerd Wiesler (Ulrich Muhe, FUNNY GAMES) tells his superior Anton Grubitz (Ulrich Tukur, AMEN) that he suspects famed playwright Georg Dreyman (Sebastian Koch, BLAKC BOOK) of subversive actions. Corrupt minister Bruno Hempf (Thomas Thieme, DOWNFALL) has a vendetta against outspoken artists and desperately wants to find anything that can bring Dreyman down. So Wiesler is called on to lead a day-and-night spy operation on the devoted socialist Dreyman and his girlfriend Christa-Maria Sieland (Martina Gedeck, THE GOOD SHEPHERD), a highly admired stage actress. Dreyman's friend Paul Hauser (Hans-Uwe Bauer, GOOD BYE LENIN!) is quite outspoken against the practices of the Ministry of State Security, known as the Stasi, especially in light of the blacklisting of their friend Albert Jerska (Volkmar Kleinert), a once famed stage director who hasn't been allowed to work in nearly 10 years. A tragedy finally motivates Dreyman to speak out against the lies of the Stasi in an expose article to be smuggled into West Germany and printed in a magazine there.

In 2003, the Dixie Chicks were country music princesses. They were at the top of the charts and their concerts were selling out arenas around the globe. Then, when the U.S. was on the brink of invading Iraq, lead singer Natalie Maines made the statement that they were ashamed that President George W. Bush was from Texas. This began a fervor, which this great documentary intricately documents, making it one the best rock docs ever made.

Part of the backlash from the statement started with country music stations banning their songs, spurred by calls from irate fans. Some stations even sponsored promotions for former fans to bring in their Dixie Chicks CDs to have them run over by a steam shovel. Alienated from their Red State base, the threesome, which also includes sisters Emily Robison and Martie Maquire, had to work on reaching out to new fans. We watch as they prepare for the U.S. leg of their world tour post incident, record their next two albums and strategize on how to handle the predicament and how it has changed their image.