WHAT IF. . .

WHAT IF. . . is an extremely well made, funny, heartwarming, pointedly Christian spinoff of THE FAMILY MAN with Nicolas Cage. WHAT IF opens with Ben leaving his beloved, Wendy, for a brief period of time to gain his fame and fortune so he cane return and they can marry. Cut to fifteen years later when Ben is a high-powered, very successful investment banker who can connect the dots so well that he can understand where a deal is going. His uncanny ability is incisive and funny. To celebrate a big deal, ...  MORE

MAO’S LAST DANCER

Bruce Beresford has directed some of the greatest movies, including DRIVING MISS DAISY, TENDER MERCIES and EVELYN. MAO’S LAST DANCER is one of the most intriguing, captivating and important movies of all time. Now, once a movie is called important, it kills the audience, but this movie is more than important, it is fascinating, and so it might find a large audience. The story opens as Li Cunxin, a Chinese ballet dancer, comes to Houston as part of the first international arts exchange with the renowned ...  MORE

STEP UP 3D

Set in New York City, STEP UP 3-D is an entertaining dance movie with some morally uplifting values. In the story, a young man named Moose has sworn off his dancing skills for an engineering degree at NYU. He soon gets into the street-dancing scene in the city. While training with a dance troop, Moose rediscovers his passion for dancing. The troop’s leader, Luke, finds dancers from broken families and lets them live with him. The troop needs to win an important dance competition in order to keep the h ...  MORE

TALES FROM EARTHSEA

TALES FROM EARTHSEA is a feature-length animated fantasy movie from Japan dubbed into English by Disney Studios. Based loosely on a series of novels by acclaimed science fiction and fantasy writer Ursula LeGuin, the story comes across as very compelling, but it has a fascination with magic and sorcery that many modern fantasy stories have. The story opens with Prince Arren stabbing his father, the King, and taking his sword, which apparently has magical powers. Arren meets up with Sparrowhawk, the wander ...  MORE

FLIPPED

FLIPPED is a romantic comedy about young love. It’s 1957 in Middle America. Young Bryce Loski and his family are moving in across the street from precocious fellow second grader with a million dollar twinkle in her eye, Juli Baker. It’s love at first sight for Juli. So begins this heart warming and humorous rendition of a timeless love story. With a he said/she said style, viewers are constantly “flipped” from Juli to Bryce’s alternating perspectives, making for some truly delightful moments and ...  MORE

SHUTTER ISLAND

SHUTTER ISLAND is a psychological thriller starring Leonardo DiCaprio that proves Pogo’s statement, “We have met the enemy, and he is us.” Regrettably, inserted into this psychological thriller are passionate concerns about the Cold War, the state of psychiatric hospitals in the early 1950s, and about God and the nature of evil. Out of this mélange, one can conclude everyone is a sinner, but it is doubtful that the filmmakers wanted that to be the conclusion. U.S. Marshall Teddy Daniels and his new ...  MORE

THE CENTURION

CENTURION is a gritty, violent, but stirring, suspenseful and heroic, action movie from Britain about a Roman centurion in Ancient Britain trying to survive a barbarian hunting party. The movie extols honor, integrity, courage, and even mercy, and exposes the brutality and emptiness of paganism, but it has some bloody violence and strong foul language that limit its audience. The story of CENTURION focuses on a Roman centurion named Quintas Dias, who is stuck in a remote fort in Northern Britain. The Pict ...  MORE

THE OTHER GUYS

THE OTHER GUYS is an outrageous cartoon salute to the average guy working behind the scenes, especially the average policeman serving society. Regrettably, it spoils that message by adding a Marxist, radical leftist, anti-capitalist subtext over its end credits. The movie itself also has abundant obscenities and some occasional off-color, lewd humor. The story opens with the NYPD’s two star detectives, Detectives Danson and Highsmith, becoming so enamored with their fantastic exploits that they jump off ...  MORE

TAKERS

TAKERS is a frenetic crime thriller about a Los Angeles police detective trying to take down a sophisticated, gun-toting band of urban, mixed-race bank robbers. The action starts with a slick robbery of a Cal Fed bank where the robbers commandeer a news helicopter to make their planned getaway. They are doggedly pursued by Detective Jack Welles, played by the always reliable Matt Dillon. As Welles and his troubled partner, Eddie, track down the thieves, one of their old buddies gets out of jail with a pl ...  MORE

INCEPTION

Christopher Nolan, the creator behind the new Batman movies and the indie hit MEMENTO, likes complicated plots. The plot in INCEPTION just may be a bit too complicated for its own good. It seems so complicated that it may distance the average moviegoer too much from its characters and its razzle-dazzle action sequences. Many viewers may begin to wonder why they should care about the characters in the movie, especially Leonardo DiCaprio’s tormented “hero” looking for a way to go home. Don’t get us ...  MORE