Superman (1978) *****

You know how we have comic book adaptation films every summer. This is the granddaddy of them all (even though it would be another decade for Batman to get his film and yet another decade for the genre to truly take off). Everyone knows the story of Superman, so I won't even waste the time on the plot or the storyline. If you don't know who Superman is you might as well stop right here.

Directed by Richard Donner, Superman is a film that could have been an over the top romp ala the late 1960's Batman television series. But what Donner delivered is a film anchored in reality. This being from another world has dropped on the everyday lives of the people of Metropolis (or Manhattan if we want to get technical). When the name Mario Puzo is thrown into the screenwriting process you know this isn't going to be a campy affair.

The cast is great. Christopher Reeve IS Superman for the entire generation that grew up with these films and the way it's going the next two generations will also look to Reeve as the big blue guy with the "S" on his chest. Can you imagine anyone else in that role? James Caan?? Brando turns in a nice 15 minutes as Kal-El, almost appearing to be in something written by Shakespeare and Margot Kidder shall forever be Lois Lane. Finally Gene Hackman gets the honor of playing one of the biggest baddies in modern mythology in Lex Luthor and he does it perfectly.

Richard Donner has said that he had two goals in making this film. The first was making you believe a man could fly. The second was that the audience cared about what happened to Superman and Lois, making it a pseudo love story. He accomplished both and created a film that dozens of producers and comic book geeks have tried to emulate ever since.

Choke (2008) ***

Choke is an adaptation of Chuck Palahniuk's novel about Victor Mancini (Sam Rockwell) who works as a historical re-enactor to pay for his mothers (Angelica Huston)constant care payments. He is also a sex addict who goes to self help meeting with very little success. But probably the most peculiar thing Victor Mancini does is when he goes into restaurants and makes himself choke so that he can get close to the people who save him. At his mother's facility he meets a young doctor (Paige Marshall) who he sees as more than just a random sexual conquest.

Choke could almost be called a sex comedy if Victor was such a sad character. You get to see how his mother screwed him up so that he his the flawed adult that he is today. The film continually cuts to flashbacks that give you insight into why he's so messed up. The story, while intriguing at first, is a big letdown as the movie progresses. I never read the novel so I have no idea how faithful the film is to its source material, even though I can't imagine reading a novel that read like this movie. The acting is average with most characters being a long list of parodies from the movie stereotype handbook. The best friend, his girlfriend, the mother. The only really interesting character besides Victor is Dr. Marshall.

Overall I think I goty my hopes to high for Choke. It read like it was going to be a weird masterpiece but ended up being more sad than anything, but trying to be lighthearted all at the same time. Choke doesn't get the balance and fails. It's still and interesting film, just not a masterpiece. Unless a cult emerges (which is always possible) Choke will probably be forgotten in the next five years.

Body of Lies (2008) ***1/2

You ever feel like you're doing all the work while your boss is getting all the credit? You're busting your ass getting the job done while you boss gets all the fortune and glory. Body of Lies is basically that story. Leonardo DiCaprio is Roger Ferris, a CIA contact on the ground in the middle east. In the process of his job it's a daily ritual to be shot at, blown up, lied to, and generally having said life in danger constantly. His boss is Ed Hoffman (Russell Crowe) a CIA suit at Langley whose office is mainly a war room with a large computer screen watching what Ferris is up to and who he's with. While Ferris is able to work things out with foreign governments to share information and catch terrorists Hoffman tends to screw that up with his ego to the point that Jordanian Intelligence throws Ferris out of the country. Ferris is in danger while Hoffman is seeing his kids off to school and having his morning cup of coffee.

Directed by Ridley Scott the film is filled with some nice action sequences. The problem is between the stuff blowing up. Di Caprio and Crowe are great in their roles, but some scenes tend to drag. There is a sub plot involving Ferris and a love interest, but it seems a little thrown in as away for a little more conflict later on in the movie. A character written in to bring the film to its conclusion it seems. It is an interesting film with some great shots from Scott and company and some great acting, but the points where it slows down bring the film down a bit. A good film, but not one of Scott's best.

Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon (2006) *1/2

I heard about the plot of Behind the Mask and became really interested. A documentary crew follows an up and coming masked murderer on his preparations for his first slaughter and how he got to that point. I was expecting a dark, menacing film that would be an interesting take in the slasher film phenomenon. What I got was a fan film. A cheap fan film at that.

Behind the Mask does follow Leslie Vernon and his work in creating a night of slaughter, but it's more of a self parody film than an actual scary flick. The star seems to be a low rent rip off of Dane Cook, which is sad unto itself. With a lackluster script, poor direction, actors that couldn't get hired for a Friday the 13th, and the array of horror icon cameos, this is a fan boy film that disguises itself behind a mask. Marketing makes this look better than it actually is. If the film had actually been funny it would have been worth it, but it seems just like a spoiled effort on what is actually a good idea.

Changeling (2008) ****

Changeling is about one woman's journey through hell. No, it's not the fire and brimstone and pitchforks and horns kind of hell, it's the personal hell that life has to journey through sometimes. The film follows Christine Collins (Angelina Jolie), a single mother in 1928 Los Angeles whose son disappears one day without a trace. Five months pass when the police inform her that they have found her son in DeKalb, Illinois and he'll be home on the train. What should be a joyous celebration is shattered when she meets the boy and realizes that he is not her son. The problem is that the LAPD can not have another embarrassment on their hands and practically force her to take the child home. As she pushes the issue more and more the police decide to throw her in the county psychopathic hospital because she won't accept the boy as her own.

Changeling is based on a true story that is really a heart wretcher. Mothers losing children always are, but with the added antagonist of the police department itself it becomes and even greater loss because, as she says in the film, they are wating precious time to investigate where her true son really is. You can almost hear the clock ticking in the background as the LAPD covers their own mistakes instead of doing their sworn duty. Jolie, who is usually hit or miss with me, is great in this role and if she would skip the crap movies she tends to do, would probably be more than tabloid meat. John Malkovich plays the pastor who is out to expose the LAPD for the corrupt organization that it is from his radio pulpit, helping Christine expose the many failures they committed while "searching" for her son.

Clint Eastwood directs the film just as he directs his other films. There's no panache. Eastwood's films tend to be straightforward pieces that don't over blow camera shots and zooms. His films are precision, which succeeds and fails depending on the material. I don't know what kind of movie making hypnotics he's done but he's been impressive in the last half of the decade. It's hard to believe that Clint Eastwood's work can stand up to John Wayne AND John Ford. Changeling represents another feather in the cowboy hat of Clint Eastwood. It's not the greatest of his career, but it's one of his best accomplishments.

Mr. Warmth: The Don Rickles Project (2007) ****

If you're looking for hot, juicy gossip in Mr. Warmth you're going to be out of luck. Don Rickles doesn't have any buried skeletons in his closet. There's no big surprise other than the fact that in his eighties Don Rickles is still funny as hell, even in a world that is politically correct. Featuring appearances of some of the biggest names in Hollywood (that are still alive) Mr. Warmth is a look at the last of his kind. A great documentary on a guy that is more than Mr. Potato Head.

Robocop 2 (1990) **

Peter Weller returns as the low rent Terminator in Robocop 2, the mediocre sequel to the 1987 action film. This time our hero is on the trail of the source of a new drug called Nuke. Meanwhile OCP (the company that built Robocop) plan on manuevering their contract with the city into total ownership and creation of a mechanic utopia. Eventually both plots cross paths.

Robocop 2 was directed by Irvin Kershner based on a story and screenplay by Frank Miller. With a combo like that you figure the film would be a great action piece with some actual character development dealt in. You get anything but in this film. Most characters tend to be standard rehashes of the ones in the original film with the one notable exception being the young foul mouthed boy who seems to be the most ruthless of them all. Otherwise you saw it all in the first film. I was intrigued by a sub plot about Robocop stalking his widowed wife, but that runs it course in the first ten minutes. An interesting plot stonewalls into a remake.

The special effects were very disappointing. Most look like a Robotech figure with an aluminum foil covered G.I. Joe riding on its back. There are interesting computer graphics, but they're used on one of the most ridiculous looking robots ever seen. And he fires for five to ten minutes without reloading his ammo. And another thing- you would think after the big failure of a robot in the first film they would not give him in ammo in its demonstration. Oh yeah, he needs to shoot the place up for the big battle.

Robocop 2 was entertaining in a mush brain sort of way. You know it's not a good movie, but damn it I love to see stuff blow up. Bang.

Happy Feet (2006) ***1/2

Mumble is a penguin whose father Memphis drops him as an egg and when he pops out he sings like I do. But the kid sure can dance- that's the problem. He gets tossed from his community and sets out to find the "aliens" that are ruining the ecosystem. Yes, the "aliens" are you and me.

Happy Feet is a semi-fun, toe tapping little tale that will keep you engrossed- until Robin Williams (who voices two characters) pops up. Please keep your schtick out of cartoons, Mr. Williams. It's getting rather elderly. Other than the annoying Mr. Williams, Happy Feet boasts a cast featuring Elijah Wood, Hugh Jackman, Nicole Kidman, Britney Murphy, and Hugo Weaving. Most of them can sing (except Hugo Weaving who has a kick ass voice once again).

Directed by George Miller (Mad Max and Babe), Happy Feet does get a little preachy in the end, but it doesn't make humans look like the complete buffoons that animated characters seem to think we are. It's a decent little cartoon that will actually keep parents entertained instead of comatose, staring at their watches.

A Walk in the Clouds (1995) *1/2

Let's face it. Keanu Reeves can't act. Don't hide it because he was Neo or Ted. He's what Hitchcock would have called "the stiff". Which brings us to A Walk in the Clouds, a mediocre romance film that contains the largest cast of stereotypical characters ever assembled in a film (excluding Night Patrol). The story is about a man (Reeves) returning from the war to his bride, who expects the world. You know what's going to happen. He goes to sell chocolates where he meets Victoria (Aitana Sanchez-Gijon) who is returning home from college with a surprise- she's pregnant. Hilarity ensues when Reeves' character offers to pose as her husband, then abandon her (why she didn't just tell her family she was abandoned we'll never know). What we get at the home is a collection of regular film characters: the pissed off all the time because his kids are stupid father, the wise old man, and the hot shit son.

A Walk in the Clouds is dull as hell. Let's face it, I can watch PBS for wine making tips. Anthony Quinn is wasted as the wise gramps who doesn't really give any wise teachings. It's a pathetic film that scores on the fact that the guy from Speed is in a romance (putter, putter). This is sentimental garbage that defies logic at every turn.

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004) ****

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind is about a couple (Jim Carrey and Kate Winslet) who have eachother erased from each other's mind. The procedure eliminates all the memories of a person and renders them oblivious to the fact that they existed. Clementine (Winslet) has the procedure done, causing Joel (Carrey) to get angry and have it done himself. The problem is that during Joel's procedure (which takes place while he sleeps in his apartment) Joel realizes what's happening and attempts to stop having Clementine totally erased from his mind.

The film has a great, original premise that keeps you intrigued. Everyone wants to be David Lynch now with a total abandon of the linear storyline. It's like a puzzle, but the actors aren't playing- we are. Jim Carrey and Kate Winslet have great chemistry together with Carrey delivering a performance that doesn't rely on him being an obnoxious jackass. The team that handles the procedure (Kirsten Dunst, Mark Ruffalo, Elijah Wood, and Tom Wilkinson) all play a sort of keystone cops subplot while Joel is being erased like a VHS tape. It's an interesting film with solid direction from Michael Gondry.

The part of the film that I found unbelievable was the fact that there were only three people in the waiting room for the procedure. You have got to be kidding me. If this service actually existed it would be franchised bigger than McDonald's. People would come in to eliminate memories starting st the guy that cut them off that morning to George W. Bush. It would be like a divorcee taping over his or her wedding video. Come on, you know you would do it!

Stripes (1981) ****

Have you ever known somebody that joined the Army for a stupid reason. Stripes is filled with those kind of guys. Bill Murray and Harold Ramis star as two guys that really have nothing going for their lives and wind up signing on the dotted line and joining the service. What the originally see as a cakewalk with travel and officers privileges turns into a nightmare, mainly at the behest of Sgt. Hulka (Warren Oates). After one mishap after another and Hulka ends up laid up for the remainder of basic training, the platoon ends up landing a sweet assignemnt "guarding a trick". But for these guys even guarding a truck can become an international incident.

Stripes is one of those comedies from the early 1980's that's actually funny. The premise is your typical dumb fish out of water story (you can almost say that it's stolen from the Three Stooges), but Stripes is a film all its own with a witty cast and a great sense of humor. It takes it characters seriously even though they don't even take themselves seriously.

Friday the 13th (2009) ***1/2

Jason Voorhees has been slaughtering teenagers longer than most of the audiences going to Friday the 13th this weekend have been alive. On-line you can find death toll lists that puts his spree in the hundreds. Hundreds! And people keep coming back for more.

Friday the 13th is really a hybrid kind of movie. It's considered a remake or reboot or re imagining or whatever it is when a characters has become stale and needs a new generation of fans. You get a short introduction of what pushed Jason to do what he does, then it goes right back onto the series well dug track of how many kids in the woods he can kill over the next 90 minutes. You do have a little bit of an extra plot with one teen searching for his missing sister. You know how that's going to go.

Derek Mears is the 11th man behind the mask and even though he plays him as more human than the previous few films he still has that hulking killing machine look instead a hillbilly in the woods protecting his land. The rest of the cast is your typical "I've seen them somewhere before" but they're just cattle for the slaughter. This movie is about the introvert in them mask.

The script is a major let down, written by the pair that gave us the wonderful dialogue in Freddy vs. Jason. It seems as though they wanted to amplify all the stereotypes from the old '80's slasher film in this one: ex. Instead of one guy lighting a joint they stumble on a field of marijuana. ex. Let's have a sex scene every ten minutes. True the originals were pure exploitation but this film became campy with all the magnified stereotypes. Of course we need to find out the ultimate question: Who pays Jason's power bill? Does he sell some of that weed? Is THAT why he's killing people, because they're ripping off his stash?

Once you get past it's attempt to be super campy Friday the 13th does have some great scares and if you're a fan of gore some great kills, too. Director Marcus Nispel makes up for the terrible script by giving the film a great atmosphere that really adds to the stalking at Crystal Lake.

What you have to remember about Friday the 13th is that it's a franchise. We can't call it McDonalds because James Bond is McDonalds, but let's call it Burger King or Taco Bell. It fills a need and one will always pop up every once in awhile. As I've said before these slashers are our Frankenstein or Dracula. Bogeymen. We'll always have Bogeyman to kill the self processed jock or class clown because we can't do it. When I was leaving the theater after watching this a little kid no older than 10 or 11 says "That was freaky. Do you think they'll make another one?"

I just had to laugh.