La Vie en Rose is very well executed, and my guess is that it will be a huge box office success in France (according to iMDb, the film has already sold several million tickets there)—and not just because Piaf was “the voice of France,” but because Cotillard’s portrayal is so powerful. My guess is that these are the types of roles that actors live to play. Marion Cotillard’s performance as Piaf is comparable to Philip Seymour Hoffman’s turn as Capote. Both he and Cotillard master their personas so well that you either can’t distinguish the real from the act—or you can, but gradually stop caring to. In any event, Cotillard treats us to a masterful portrayal of “The Little Sparrow.”

Nancy Drew is beautifully shot and the costuming, especially for Emma Roberts, is superb. The most glaring flaw of the fiilm is that for the first thirty minutes it is impossible to determine the time period. Does it take place in the time period of the books, or in 2007? The only indications that it cannot be taking place in the 1950’s are that the cars and electronic devices are late model and state-of-the-art. Only when Nancy and her father arrived in LA did I realize that the setting was really today! I don’t think the kids in the audience were aware of the clash on the screen at all.

“A big part of the attraction for me,” says Hutcherson of Bridge to Terabithia, “was the fact that these kids do use their imaginations. So many kids are just trapped indoors; but this film said, ‘Look kids! See how much fun Jess and Leslie had outside. You guys can go outside!’ When I was younger, you couldn’t get me inside. From sunup to sundown, I was outside, playing kickball in the street, playing army men with my friends. I was always outside. It was cool to get to play a character like that, and in that way, Jess was a lot like me. And that’s a cool message for kids, that you can get out there, and you can have fun outside.”

The key word in the title is not love, but crazy! Both Linda and Burt Pugach are very intelligent yet sadly, very deeply flawed people. Burt is an obsessive stalker who will pursue getting what he wants at any cost, and Linda is revenge-driven to the core. It is excruciating to watch these two people admit that they have each settled for each other. My conclusion is that Linda and Burt deserve each other in many ways. This adds up to the biggest waste of all—two lifetimes. Linda and Burt have money, security, and comfort, but they don’t really have each other, and that is sad. In the end, all they are left with is a 30-year (and continuing) life sentence.

As clichéd as the plot becomes, Surf’s Up is not without its charms. The mockumentary style pays off with some excellent gags. The way in which the opening narrative contrasts Cody’s version of his “Big Z” encounter with visuals of the truth, for instance, is reminiscent of Don Lockwood’s opening speech in Singin’ in the Rain. Unfortunately, the film seems to shift away from its mockumentary format and we are left with the story of a veteran athlete teaching a young athlete everything he needs to know to succeed both in the specific sport and in life. So Surf’s Up is nothing terrific, but it’s good enough to entertain the kids.

When Elephant debuted and stole the show at Cannes, McConnell was part of the crew that Van Sant took along to promote the film—and that was McConnell’s first opportunity to visit Paris. When Van Sant was asked to contribute one of the segments to Paris, je t’aime, McConnell got invited along for the ride again. So I asked him: If the film itself didn’t convince him that Paris was a city everyone should love, did the city itself seduce him? “Actually, I prefer Portland,” replied McConnell. Gus Van Sant is a big part of the city’s appeal for McConnell. Van Sant “is unique,” says McConnell, “in that he follows through on the projects he talks about.”

A lot of what makes Ocean’s Thirteen fun to watch, however, is not the plot, but just the fun of watching movie stars be movie stars. That’s okay, though. That’s why we go to films like this. We go to have fun, to be entertained and, yes, to see movie stars. The film provides plenty of laughs and there are even some personal jabs aimed past the characters towards the actors themselves. Bottom line: Ocean’s Thirteen may not be a terrific film like the original, but it’s fun to watch. It’s meant to entertain and it does just that… in spades.

Gracie’s struggle to break the gender barrier in soccer directly parallels the experience of Elizabeth Shue, who fought for the right to play on the team her brother William left behind. What makes Gracie so wonderful is that the movie resonates with the passionate zeal and love of the real Shue family. The film is dedicated to the memory of their younger brother, William Shue, who did die while in high school, but the family of the film is renamed and has its own emotional character and flaws. So, since the story is not 100% autobiographical, it escapes the tendency to bare too much soul and become maudlin while doing an excellent job of character exploration and development.

How does one recommend a film that is laugh-out-loud funny all the way through and completely captures the foibles of adult intimate relationships while placing on the screen one of the best ensemble casts in recent moviedom? Gee, you say, that should be easy. But, what if you can’t say the name of the movie out loud without gagging? Only a couple of things may keep people from seeing Knocked Up: one being the title and the other being the very excessive use of crude language. Ben grows up and changes throughout the movie, but his buddies do not—and for all her beauty and seeming poise, Alison has quite a mouth on her when she isn’t in front of the television cameras at work.

Whereas most psychological thrillers these days leave me feeling a sense of déjà vu, this film—along with April’s Fracture—felt like something new. At the film’s midpoint, all the various plotlines feel a bit like a tangled web, but the ending brings them together nicely. I enjoyed Mr. Brooks, mostly because the titular character is one of those villains we love to watch. This may not be the type of movie that screams sequel, but the unresolved daughter subplot and the intriguing resolution between Brooks and Detective Atwood makes me believe that the best of Mr. Brooks might be yet to come.