Director Arnaud Desplechin’s last entry in 2004 ROIS ET REIGN was heralded by many critics as one of the best films of the decade.  What made that film great was that it realistically celebrated life with all its flaws and flowed as smoothly as syrup (or medicine) down ones throat. 

When THE TIMES OF HARVEY MILK opened in 1984, it left audiences stunned and weeping.  It then went on to win the Oscar for Best Documentary.  Gus Van Sant’s MILK is a non-doc account of the rise and assassination of Harvey Milk, the first gay open elected official in California – and by no means a film no less moving.

The FOUR CHRISTMASES of the title comes about from the couple who have to visit each of four of their divorced parents. One after another!  If all this sounds tiresome, the film really is so, four times over.

If TRANSPORTER has a French feel about the film, it is not that various scenes were shot around Marseilles and in Europe or that French actor Francois Berleand is in but that TRANSPORTER 3 is a full French financed production down to its Oscar winning director (for his short, EXIT) Olivier Megaton.

In one scene in the middle of the film, Bolt gets a lesson from Mittens on how to look cute and hence grab the affection of picnicers for food.  With flopped ears and pouty smile, Bolt wins a lot of ‘aw’s from the audience at the promo screening.  Disney has perfected the art of cuteness.  Fortunately, the directors have not forgotten to include other human traits like goofiness (for hilarity) and intelligence (for the adult audience) into their characters of the new Disney animated movie.