Based on the book by Christopher Buckley and written for the screen and directed by Jason Reitman (Ivan Reitman’s son), THANK YOU FOR SMOKING is a satire on several subjects from congressmen, tobacco companies to Hollywood moguls.  The film is funny and entertaining enough, though it hardly succeeds as a biting satire.

JOYEUX NOEL (MERRY CHRISTMAS) is the kind of sentimental, glossy, feel good and sometimes over-charming film the French are famous for.  Making it big at the box-office last Christmas in France and not-surprisingly winning a Best Foreign Film nomination at this year’s Academy Awards, JOYEUX NOEL will undoubtedly cause many viewers to drench their mouchoirs with tears.  It even got a 20-minute standing ovation when screened at Cannes.

The opening credits of SHE’S THE MAN are proud to announce that the film is inspired by William Shakespeare’s TWELFTH NIGHT.  But the opening credits done in a background of bright colours of yellow, pink and the like, similar to what might be seen in a 70’s British flick and the opening sequence of a beach soccer match, bringing back memories of the Frankie Avalon beach party movies quickly diffuse that notion.  As the film progresses, the audience learns that the only similarity between this film and the Shakespearean play is a bit of gender bending and the usage of similar names like Viola and Sebastian.  SHE’S THE MAN could well be inspired by BEND IT LIKE BECKHAM, about a talented female footballer or MEAN GIRLS, as obviously the filmmakers aim this film to be.

LE DERNIER TRAPPEUR (THE LAST TRAPPER) is 50-year old Norman, who makes a hard living in the Yukon by hunting and trapping for furs he sells in the town of Dawson.  The film traces a year (from late fall) in the life of this man who loves the great white north.  He has his woman, a Nahanni Indian by the name of Nebraska.

From the snazzy credits at the start of the film SIX FIGURES, the viewer can tell that quite a lot of care and effort has been put into the preparation and execution of the story of thirty-something Warner Lutz (JR Bourne of ON THE CORNER and THE EXORCISM OF EMILY ROSE) who has landed himself in trouble.  Firstly, after moving his wife, Claire (Caroline Cave) and two kids to the boom city of Calgary, Alberta, he finds that he cannot afford buying a house or living up to expectations of his family.  When he is put on probation by his boss, Richard (David Thimble) as a result of an oversight that was not really his fault, Warner gets into a big fight with Claire.  This is where Christensen’s film takes a major dramatic turn.  Claire is viciously attacked and goes into a coma.  Warner is blamed and given a restraining order, initiated by Claire’s mother Louise (Deborah Grover) from approaching Claire or the children.  The question is whether Warner did or did not do it.