Look out for 'The Road' coming out soon starring Viggo Mortensen. The film is based on the book of the same name by Cormac McCarthy. He has two other film adaptions of his works 'No Country for Old Men' which you no doubt have heard of, and 'All the Pretty Horses' a film which although being watchable is not where near as good as 'No Country...".
'The Road' is set in a post-apocalyptic landscape near the appalachian mountains in america, nothing grows or lives everything is covered in ash and dust which the sun can no longer cut through. The story follows the journey of a father and his young son trying to survive and find a haven of life as they travel along the now abandoned roads of north america encountering the myriad dangers of this new devasted world.
The novel won a pulitzer prize and if the film is anywhere near as good you can expect it to get its own array of awards as well. The book is seriously bleak sad and dark but the story will affect you in a way that will stay with you for days.
I feel I have to say that although I love them this isn't another run of the mill post-apocolyptic film where the oil has run out and everyone wears leather and has mowhawks, the book has been described as a love story about about the father and son with the landscape merely the setting for their story.
Go see it and feel obliged to read the book to.

What a funny film, really enjoying it.

By the way anyone reading this must see 'UP' its great same thread as monsters ink and toystory.

Emja xx

Another classic movie from Germany. Fritz Lang's "M" starring Peter Lorre

Marlene Dietrich became an immediate international star on the strength of her performance as the temptress Lola Frohlich in Josef von Sternberg's classic tale of love and obsession. Professor Immanuel Rath (Emil Jannings) is a strict and humorless schoolmaster who is shocked when he discovers the boys in his class have been spending their time at a sleazy cabaret called The Blue Angel, where an entertainer named Lola (Dietrich) keeps the men in thrall and sells suggestive postcards of herself. Rath goes to the club in hopes of catching his students and giving them a severe dressing-down, but he instead finds himself entranced by the carefree atmosphere of the club, and is struck by Lola's earthy, sensual beauty. Rath finds himself strongly attracted to Lola, and she later entertains him in her dressing room. When word of Rath's infatuation with Lola spreads to his students, he is taunted mercilessly, and eventually Rath is dismissed from the school. While Lola agrees to marry Rath, she shows little affection for him and delights in humiliating him, making him her servant and forcing him to play a clown in her stage show. The Blue Angel was shot in both German and English language versions; the German is preferable, as most of the cast were obviously more expert in that tongue. Dietrich introduced her theme song, "Falling In Love Again", in this picture.

The Blue Angel

The Women (2008 film)

Mary Haines (Meg Ryan) lives in a beautiful suburban Connecticut home with her wealthy financier husband Stephen, their 11-year-old daughter Molly, their housekeeper Maggie (Cloris Leachman) and nanny, Uta (Tilly Scott Pedersen). Her best friend since college, Sylvie Fowler (Annette Bening), is the editor of prominent fashion magazine Cache that dictates the latest in taste and style for New York City fashionistas. Mary finds out that her husband is cheating on her with a perfume salesgirl at Saks Fifth Avenue, Crystal Allen (Eva Mendes) from her chatty manicurist Tanya Winkleman (Debi Mazar) and is struck numb at the news. Unaware that Mary already knows, Sylvie informs the other 2 in their group housewife Edie Cohen (Debra Messing) and lesbian author Alex Fisher (Jada Pinkett Smith) while they are on the way to take Mary to the airport for some time away with her mother and daughter. The trip is Mary's mother Catherine's (Candice Bergen) idea to play games with Stephen by making herself unavailable to make him want her more than Crystal. The friends then find out Mary knows about the affair before they can tell her. The cracks in the relationship between Mary and Sylvie start to show when Sylvie turns the situation into something about her when she berates Mary for not telling her that she knew.

Maggie cares for the family deeply as does Uta, but she reminds her young charge not to get involved with the families she works for because at anytime a divorce can happen then you have to leave. Catherine skillfully schools her daughter in how to finesse Stephen into ending his affair and seemingly does a great job. However, after a confrontation with Crystal (egged on by Sylvie) in their shared lingerie boutique in which she finds out that Stephen, for all his apologizing is not only still seeing Crystal, but paying her bills, Mary leaves Stephen and eventually files for a divorce.

More complications between Sylvie and Mary arise when Sylvie (on thin ice at work) desperately sells Mary down the river when she agrees to trade a contributing piece by syndicated gossip columnist Bailey Smith (Carrie Fisher) for confirmation of the breakup of Mary's marriage. Mary's knowledge of Sylvie's dirty doings comes at dinner with the 4 friends when Sylvie sees what damage the Page Six embarrassment has done to her best friend and she confesses. Mary, almost undone at all the betrayal from those closest to her, breaks off all contact with Sylvie. Sylvie continuously tries to apologize, but Mary is too hurt by the actions of her longtime friend. It all eventually becomes too much to ignore when Mary finds out that the childless Sylvie has become Molly's confidante instead of her and she hunts Sylvie down for a confrontation. Mary becomes close to Maggie and Uta, but Maggie still tries to remain all-business. Mary even tells Maggie she loves her, but she doesn't verbally return the sentiment, although she obviously does emotionally.

All is not lost for Mary, however. She has taken some time for herself at an Ashram-like retreat and met agent Leah Miller (Bette Midler). Leah gave Mary advice about taking care of herself first and when she arrived back home, Mary asked herself, "What Do I Want?" Mary's dream was always to be Donna Karan and with her mother's backing, she set about creating a small collection of her own. Over time she broke out of her self-imposed shell and made some long-needed changes as she created her own collection. She also decided, when all she needed to be rid of Stephen was to sign her divorce papers, not to simply let Crystal have him.

After finding out from Molly that Stephen just has Crystal around because he's lonely and can't have Mary, she decides to get her husband back. She drops in on Tanya and arranges for her newly reconciled friend Sylvie to do so at the same time to spin a yarn they are sure will get back Crystal about Stephen sleeping with Mary. Mary even has her nails painted the "Jungle Red" Tanya first offered her in the beginning of the movie, which she eschewed for her boring beige color. Molly gets in on the action by telling Crystal that her father is intrigued with her mother again because he's heard about her living out her dream and he finds it "sexy."

On the night of Mary's fashion show, everyone is in attendance (even Stephen, who has sent flowers and his wedding ring asking if he can get to know Mary again and wondering if he has lost his chance). Molly is now proud of her mother and they've become close, Sylvie (who has quit her job due to not only her decision that hurt Mary, but after she passed off someone else's ideas as her own) has not only come to support Mary, but has brought with her the buyer from Saks Fifth Avenue. Edie is now 9 months pregnant and Alex has finally finished her book. Before leaving to the show Maggie allows Mary to hug her and even hugs her back, yet can not return Mary's "I love you." She does impart some motherly advice that shows how proud she is of her, and after Mary leaves Uta chides her for "getting involved." The show is a fabulous success, and the buyer has asked Mary to put a collection together for the coming Spring. Mary is happy, but not sure if she wants to continue to take on so much. As Edie comes to congratulate Mary, she informs her that she must leave early because her water has just broken.

The 4 women race to the hospital and they all are in the delivery room with Edie. During the labor, Edie reveals that she, like Stephen, cheated and her husband forgave her. This revelation and the fact that Mary has finally put herself first lead her to accept a date with Stephen (who has been calling her nonstop) for the following week. After the birth the women are shown to have moved on: Sylvie started her own magazine and Alex is on her second book (the first one being a best seller).

Production

In The Women: The Legacy, a bonus feature on the DVD release of the film, Diane English discusses her fifteen-year-long struggle to bring a contemporary version of the 1939 classic film to the screen. She wanted to present a version in which the female characters were strong and self-reliant and supported and defended each other rather than resort to treachery and catty remarks to achieve their goals. Since the concept of women going to Reno in search of a divorce is archaic, she needed to eliminate this aspect of the original plot from her treatment, which necessitated deleting several characters from the story.

English wrote the first screenplay in 1993 during hiatus from Murphy Brown. The following year, Julia Roberts and Meg Ryan agreed to co-produce and star, with James L. Brooks as director and a supporting cast including Blythe Danner, Marisa Tomei, Debi Mazar, and Candice Bergen. In 1996, the first table reading of the script was held on the Sony Pictures lot. Despite the enthusiasm of everyone involved, the project stalled when Roberts and Ryan decided they wanted to play the same role.

English spent the following year revising the screenplay, during which time Brooks dropped out to direct As Good as It Gets. Roberts also lost interest and moved on. English first entertained the idea of directing the film herself in 2001. Over the next few years, Sandra Bullock, Ashley Judd, Uma Thurman, Whitney Houston, and Queen Latifah were among those to express interest, although none were attached officially.

After being turned down by every major Hollywood studio, English decided to develop the project as an independent film and approached Victoria Pearman, the president of Mick Jagger's production company, Jagged Films, who agreed to produce the film for Picturehouse. Pearman offered some plot suggestions, and English put the finishing touches on the seventh and final draft of the script. Upon the film's completion, it was shown to executives at Warner Bros., which had absorbed Picturehouse in the interim. Unimpressed, they put the film on the back burner until the box office success of Sex and the City convinced them there was an audience for an all-female film [1].

The film was shot on location in New York City and Georgetown, Gloucester, Sudbury, Medfield, and Boston in Massachusetts. As with the play and 1939 film, English was careful to make sure no men appear on screen, even in long shots and crowd scenes. The only male character in the film is Edie's baby boy, born in the final scene of the film.[2]
Cast

* Meg Ryan ..... Mary Haines
* Annette Bening ..... Sylvie Fowler
* Eva Mendes ..... Crystal Allen
* Debra Messing ..... Edie Cohen
* Jada Pinkett Smith ..... Alex Fisher
* Candice Bergen ..... Catherine Frazier
* Cloris Leachman ..... Maggie
* Bette Midler ..... Leah Miller
* Carrie Fisher ..... Bailey Smith
* Debi Mazar ..... Tanya
* Ana Gasteyer ..... Pat
* Lynn Whitfield ..... Glenda Hill
* Joanna Gleason ..... Barbara Delacorte
* Keegan Connor Tracy ..... Dolly Dupuyster
* Natasha Alam ..... Natasha
* India Ennenga ..... Molly Haines

Critical reception

The film received an overwhelmingly negative response from critics and holds only a 13% rating on the web aggregate Rotten Tomatoes.

A.O. Scott of the New York Times called the film "a witless, straining mess" and added, "You wait in vain for a moment of snappy repartee, of fresh emotion, of grace or charm or pathos ... If The Women had managed to give its various impulses some kind of coherent shape or tone, it might be worth arguing about. As it is, the movie wanders and wallows, stumbling toward screwball before veering in the direction of weepiness and grasping at satirical urbanity along the way ... Rarely has class struggle, or catfighting, for that matter, been so tediously waged. And rarely have so many fine actresses been enlisted in such a futile cause."

Kenneth Turan of the Los Angeles Times observed, "While the original film ... saw itself as a catty entertainment about New York society women coping with the infidelity of the husband of one of their friends, English has something grander and more complex in mind ... This version sees itself as both a farce and a manifesto, a glorification of female friendship and a celebration of women's need for self-realization ... All that would be a handful to pull off for the most experienced filmmaker, but English has never directed before, and it shows. The visual choices she makes in The Women are invariably static, and except for whatever energy the performers can manage, the storytelling has a dispiriting flatness to it ... The film becomes unfocused as it stumbles over all the points it wants to make. Given English's writing skills, the dialogue doesn't help as much as it should, tending too much toward one-liners that aim for raunchy whenever possible. Never particularly believable, the story quickly unravels into schematic contrivance and wish-fulfillment fantasy."

David Wiegand of the San Francisco Chronicle said, "English doesn't make much of it very enjoyable. She's so careful to resist the Neanderthal sensibilities of the original film, she often neglects to make her version of the story, well, fun. Worse, it's only occasionally believable ... Even those who never saw Cukor's movie will feel something is missing in English's version. Yes, some of what's missing is humor and snappy dialogue, but that could be forgiven, if only some of the characters were more believable and the direction not quite as uneven. English knows how to get good performances out of her cast, but her pacing is languid and sloppy, so much so that one is tempted to believe that for all she knows about pacing a 30-minute sitcom, English isn't quite ready to tackle the longer form."

Peter Travers of Rolling Stone rated the film one out of four stars, calling it a "misbegotten redo" and "a major dud." He added, "Everyone ... struggles with a script that resists being crowbarred into the 21st century."

Richard Schickel of Time called the film "one of the worst movies I've ever seen."

Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times was one of the few critics who enjoyed the film. He awarded it three out of four stars and commented, "What a pleasure this movie is, showcasing actresses I've admired for a long time, all at the top of their form ... Diane English ... focuses on story and character, and even in a movie that sometimes plays like an infomercial for Saks Fifth Avenue, we find ourselves intrigued by these women ... The Women isn't a great movie, but how could it be? Too many characters and too much melodrama for that, and the comedy has to be somewhat muted to make the characters semi-believable. But as a well-crafted, well-written and well-acted entertainment, it drew me in and got its job done."

Box Office

Despite the mostly negative reviews, the film was a moderate box office success. On its opening weekend, the film earned $10,115,210, ranking #4 behind Righteous Kill, The Family That Preys, and Burn After Reading. The film eventually grossed $26,902,075 in the US and $21,786,726 in foreign markets for a total worldwide box office of $48,688,801. [9]

DVD release

The film was released on DVD by New Line Home Video (whose sister company Warner Bros. owns the rights to the 1939 original) on December 19, 2008 in the USA and 19 March 2009 in the UK. Viewers have the option of either anamorphic widescreen or fullscreen formats and subtitles in either English for the hearing-impaired or Spanish. Bonus features include deleted scenes, The Women: The Legacy, which charts the film from its 1936 stage roots to the 1939 adaptation to the contemporary update, and The Women Behind the Women, in which cast and crew members discuss issues of female empowerment, body image, and self-esteem for girls.

Lipstick Jungle Season 1 [DVD] [2008]

Plot

Characters

Main Characters:

* Brooke Shields – Wendy Healy, former president of Parador Pictures
* Kim Raver – Nico Reilly, editor-in-chief of Bonfire Magazine
* Lindsay Price – Victory Ford, fashion designer
* Paul Blackthorne – Shane Healy, British musician; Wendy's husband
* Robert Buckley – Kirby Atwood, photographer, Nico's on-again off-again younger lover/boyfriend
* Andrew McCarthy - Joe Bennett, powerful but cynical billionaire, engaged to Victory

Recurring Characters:

* Rosie Perez - Dahlia Morales, the PR Maven for Victory (Season 2 only)
* David Alan Basche – Mike Harness, Wendy and Nico's co-worker
* Mary Tyler Moore - Joyce, Wendy's mother (Season 2 only)
* David Norona – Salvador Rosa, Wendy's friend and co-worker
* Matt Lauria – Roy Merritt, Victory's personal assistant
* James Lesure - Griffen Bell runs the Parent Company 'Matrick-Warner' that oversees Parador Pictures and Bonfire Magazine he once was Nico's lover (Season 2 only)
* Vanessa Marcil - Josie Scotto, Shane's agent/manager for his new career as a composer/musician, who seems to be threatening Wendy and Shane's relationship (Season 2 only)
* Uma Incrocci - Nora, Janice's (Lorraine Bracco) hapless assistant
* Sarah Hyland - Maddie Healy, Wendy and Shane's headstrong teenage daughter
* Dylan Clark Marshall - Taylor Healy, Wendy and Shane's son

Former Characters:

* Julian Sands – Hector Matrick, Nico & Wendy's boss (appearing only in season one)
* Christopher Cousins - Charles Reilly, Nico's husband who died at the beginning of season two.

Saw 5 [DVD] [2008]

Plot

Seth Baxter (Joris Jarsky), a convicted murderer who was released early from prison on a technicality, is chained to a table beneath a pendulum blade. A videotaped message informs him that in order to survive, he must crush his hands by putting them into two presses and pushing the buttons inside. Even though he does so, the pendulum swings down and slices him in half. The fact that the trap was inescapable marks it as a creation of someone other than Jigsaw (Tobin Bell).

In a scene from the end of Saw IV, Agent Peter Strahm (Scott Patterson) enters the room containing the corpses of Jigsaw, Amanda Young and Lynn Denlon, and shoots Jeff Reinhart (Angus Macfadyen) dead in self-defense. As he examines Jigsaw's corpse, he is trapped in the room by Lieutenant Mark Hoffman (Costas Mandylor). Discovering a hidden door that leads into a passage and a microcassette, that urges him not to proceed any further, he moves down the passage and is attacked by a figure in a pig mask. Regaining consciousness, he discovers that his head is trapped in a small glass box that begins to fill with water. A self-administered tracheotomy using a pen keeps him breathing until the police arrive at the Gideon meatpacking plant, where Hoffman emerges carrying Jeff's daughter Corbett (Niamh Wilson), claiming that they are the only survivors until Strahm is brought out alive as well.

Jill Tuck (Betsy Russell), John Kramer's ex-wife, receives a videotape and a box from her lawyer. On the tape, John tells her that the items in the box are of "grave importance" and that she will know what to do with them. After looking inside, she takes the box and hurries away without revealing its contents. Meanwhile, the chief of police announces an end to the Jigsaw murders and promotes Hoffman for closing the cases.

Strahm begins questioning Hoffman's innocence upon learning that Agent Perez said Hoffman's name before dying from the wounds inflicted on her by the exploding Billy doll. Gathering up all the files on Jigsaw’s victims, Strahm revisits some of the crime scenes and pieces together Hoffman's involvement: Hoffman set up the inescapable pendulum trap to kill Seth (who murdered Hoffman's sister) and blamed it on Jigsaw, who used his knowledge of these events to blackmail Hoffman into becoming his accomplice.

Meanwhile, in a sewer, Ashley, Charles, Brit, Mallick, and Luba wake up in a trap in which collars are locked around their necks, strung on a cable connected to a set of guillotine blades mounted on the wall behind them. The keys to the collars are in glass boxes at the other end of the room. All but Ashley (Laura Gordon) are able to escape in time; she is decapitated when the collars are automatically pulled back to the wall and into the blades.

In the next room, the four survivors must break jars hanging from the ceiling and find three keys to shelters that can protect them from the room's bombs. Charles (Carlo Rota) is left to die in the explosion after Luba (Meagan Good) knocks him down and takes a key that he had taken from Mallick (Greg Bryk). The third room requires five electrical cables to be connected to a bathtub full of water in order to unlock the door (set to a countdown timer), but they are all too short to reach it. Luba attempts to use Mallick to complete the circuits, whereupon Brit (Julie Benz) fatally stabs her in the neck. By throwing her body in the tub and hooking all the cables to it, Brit and Mallick get the door open.

The exit door to the fourth and final room can only be opened by filling a beaker with ten pints of blood, to be obtained by the captives putting their arms into a box fitted with circular saws. Brit realizes that the five of them were meant to work together so that they could all survive to this point, and that each had been involved in a recent fire that killed eight people. With no other options, she and Mallick begin sawing their arms to fill the beaker themselves.

While these games are playing out, Hoffman steals Strahm’s cell phone and uses it to make Strahm’s boss, Dan Erickson (Mark Rolston), suspect that Strahm is Jigsaw's accomplice. He plants the phone and Erickson's own personnel file outside the exit from the fourth room, and Erickson arrives there just as Brit and Mallick get the door open. Both pass out from blood loss as Erickson calls for backup; he then puts out an all-points bulletin for Strahm's arrest.

Strahm’s investigation brings him to a small underground room that contains a transparent box full of glass shards. A recorder inside the box delivers a message from Hoffman: Strahm will have to trust him and get in the box if he wants to survive. Instead, Strahm stops the tape short and ambushes Hoffman when he enters the room, eventually throwing him into the box and closing it. When the door to the room suddenly slams shut and locks, Hoffman advises Strahm to finish the tape. As the box sinks into the floor, the tape explains that if Strahm does not comply, he will die in that room with Jigsaw's legacy becoming his own. Strahm then attempts to escape the room when the walls begin to move inward, but is eventually crushed to death while Hoffman watches from below.

Cast

* Tobin Bell as John Kramer/Jigsaw
* Costas Mandylor as Lieutenant Mark Hoffman
* Scott Patterson as Agent Peter Strahm
* Julie Benz as Brit
* Greg Bryk as Mallick
* Meagan Good as Luba
* Betsy Russell as Jill Tuck
* Mark Rolston as Dan Erickson
* Carlo Rota as Charles
* Laura Gordon as Ashley
* Joris Jarsky as Seth Baxter
* Mike Butters as Paul Leahy
* Mike Realba as Detective Fisk
* Lyriq Bent as Lieutenant Daniel Rigg
* Athena Karkanis as Agent Lindsey Perez
* Justin Louis as Art Blank
* Donnie Wahlberg as Detective Eric Matthews
* Danny Glover as Detective David Tapp
* Shawnee Smith as Amanda Young
* Bahar Soomekh as Lynn Denlon
* Niamh Wilson as Corbett Reinhart
* Angus Macfadyen as Jeff Reinhart
* Tony Nappo as Gus Colyard
* Tim Burd as Obi Tate[4]
* Sarah Power as Angelina Acomb

I was so impressed with the idea of the remake of Fame but the reality was something different.

The cast, in the UK definitely are unknown. The acting, i'm sorry to say, was nothing special. The film bared no resemblance to the original and did nothing for me personally.

There was no need for this remake, the writers either could not be bothered to make the characters real or did not feel any one storyline was worth pushing in order to make it believable. This contributed to the film feeling just like any old film.

However, the dancing, when we were allowed to see it (as we never saw a whole routine), was excellent. I could have happily sat through hours of dancing. The singing was ok but there were no goose bump moments. I also liked the inclusion of modern music, for example, rap music. They also made a special point of making reference to artists like that of Lauren Hill.

On the whole it was an interesting film but if you are old enough, like me, to have seen the original it is sadly lacking!!!

Hey
I'm goimg to see fame but have any of you pleases tell me

I just watched the film "Seven Pounds" staring Will Smith as it was Sky Free Pass weekend on Freeview.

I know most of you young, free and singles will have seen it already but for us oldies with children we hardly get the chance to go to the cinema unless it is a PG, 12 or 12A etc., and if your child/children agree to see the same films.

Anyway, I have heard a lot of mixed reviews, some like it and some hated it. Personally on a basic level I thought it was an interesting film.

The psychological implications were also interesting. The fact that he felt responsible for the deaths of seven people, including that of his wife. This then leads him to find seven people he deemed good people to drastically improve their lives. This in turn leads to him literally giving his "seven pounds" of flesh. Punishment indeed!

It really is a heart wrenching film and I defy anyone not to feel it tug at the heart strings!