In the Name of the King: A Dungeon Siege Tale: I had not seen a Uwe Boll film before this piece of work, and now I completely understand why there is a petition afoot to try to get him to stop making films forever.
The sheer amount of decent actors slumming for a paycheck is actually staggering. Not only is Burt Reynolds playing the wise and noble king while looking mostly drunk, and not only is Leelee Sobieski seeming to spiral downwards between this and the absurd 88 Minutes, and not only is Matthew Lillard making us wonder what kind of career can reach its apex with a brilliant portrayal of Shaggy, but even the ostensible reason for watching this film in the first place, seeing Evil Wizard Ray Liotta's orc hordes get kicked around by Jason Statham and Ron Perlman, isn't nearly as fun as it should be. Bad dialog, nonsensical motivations and at one point Statham swings across a giant valley from mountaintop to mountainside on one rope. The only fun to be had here is in mockery.
Juno: You've seen the truckloads of press already, you know the score here. It's a fun, quirky and cute little movie with a great soundtrack. Go get it.
Before the Devil Knows You're Dead: One of the films many people thought was snubbed for deserved Oscar nominations, possibly due to Ethan Hawke's presence canceling out Philip Seymour Hoffman's goodwill. Sidney Lumet's low-rent criminal story of two brothers trying to stage a robbery of their parents' jewelry store garnered a hell of a lot of critical praise and is certainly worth checking out.
Lars and the Real Girl: Ryan Gosling stars as a man who has a complete break from reality and starts dating a Real Doll. Thankfully, he lives in a magical land where an entire town of people humors him just long enough to help him heal psychologically, rather than any actual place on Earth, where townsfolk would look at him like he drove around in a windowless van offering candy on playgrounds.
Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem: It was supposed to be the R-rated gruesome monster-fight that everyone wanted out of the first Alien vs. Predator but didn't get, but it turned out this too-darkly shot sequel still didn't particularly please the sparse crowds that actually saw it.
