Jennifer Connelly Page 3

Far too tidy to be believable, this multi-strand romance holds our attention with a warmly comical tone and a watchable cast. But it's only entertaining as a bit of escapism, because the various relational entanglements are far too contrived for us to identify with them. A looser, messier approach would have made it a lot more involving.

The action takes place over the course of a year. Bill (Kinnear) is a noted novelist who stopped writing when his marriage to Erica (Connelly) ended. Even though she's now married to a fitness instructor (Joiner), Bill is waiting for her to come back to him. Although he's engaging in a mindless fling with a married neighbour (Bell) in the mean time. Bill and Erica's daughter Samantha (Collins) has just published her first novel, but has sworn off romance. Then she meets the persistent nice-guy Lou (Lerman). Meanwhile, her teen brother Rusty (Wolff) is finally working up the nerve to speak to his crush Kate (Liberato), who has both a cocaine problem and a bully (Schwarzenegger) of a boyfriend.

Writer-director Boone lets each character introduce themselves with the first line from the book of their life, and the litrary theme continues in almost every scene as they continually discuss their writings and their favourite books. Very quickly, this begins to get on our nerves, as if Boone is reminding us that nothing we're watching is actually happening: it's carefully orchestrated fiction that draws on real-life emotions to tell a series of implausible love stories. Aside from Kinnear and Connelly, who are strong enough actors to convince us of almost anything, none of the interaction feels remotely realistic. 

Continue reading: Stuck In Love Review

In a small Northeastern community, Brad Adamson (Patrick Wilson) secretly has a huge cult following. A gaggle of housewives, including obvious peculiarity Sarah (the consistently outstanding Kate Winslet), adore Brad from afar as he takes his son to the playground (he's a stay-at-home dad) each day, whispering his nickname between them: "The Prom King." After a dare that leads to a small kiss, Sarah and Brad start spending time together at the town pool with their kids. Rumors fly and the neighborhood becomes a cauldron of suspicion as the town learns that a reformed pedophile named Ronnie (Jackie Earle Haley) has just moved back to the neighborhood.

Continue reading: Little Children Review

Seldom do movies contain enough power to influence or change our convictions. Through enormously convincing performances, a masterful screenplay, and aggressive direction, this movie takes us on an extraordinary journey into the mind of a fascinating character, providing insight on its unique subject. Move over Good Will Hunting, here comes the ultimate movie about a math wiz!

Continue reading: A Beautiful Mind Review

Torpid, trite and not the least bit scary -- just unrelen=tinglyunpleasant -- the first 45 minutes of the movie only came to life in twoscenes involving the messy divorce of miserable single mom Jennifer Connelly(proving Oscars don't bring talented actresses good roles). She subsequentlymoves into a drab, creepy cinderblock slum with her sad-eyed daughter (ArielGade), even though it's made very clear that there's nothing keeping herfrom finding a nicer place in the suburbs.

Soon the kid has an "imaginary friend" she won'ttalk about, their ceiling is dripping gooey black liquid from an abandoned(and eerily flooded) apartment upstairs, and the building's greasy manager(John C. Reilly) and bug-eyed, hollow-cheeked building superintendent (PetePostlethwaite) both seem to be hiding something sinister.

Director Walter Salles (the Brazilian behind "TheMotorcycle Diaries," making his inauspicious Hollywood debut) dragsout these routine, oppressively glum establishing scenes to a mind-numbingdegree. (If this apartment building is spooky enough to justify its ownominous soundtrack theme from the moment mom and daughter arrive, how comeConnelly isn't astute enough to realize something's amiss, even if shecan't hear the music?)

Continue reading: Dark Water Review

As an actor portraying the inner turmoil of Jackson Pollock -- the revolutionary abstractionist known for his splatter-and-drip painting style -- Ed Harris gives a commanding, potent performance in "Pollock" that is a torrential mix of the artist's chaotic talent and his more chaotic psyche.

As a director depicting Jackson Pollock's world, Ed Harris (yes, he did double-duty on this film) captures with vivid, lively authenticity both the astute yet pretentious buzz of the 1940s Manhattan art scene and his subject's tumultuous personal life, marked by hard drinking and a stormy long-term affair with fellow painter Lee Krasner (Marcia Gay Harden).

Together Ed Harris the actor and Ed Harris the director create an imposing, invigorating cinematic biography fueled by its subject's stubborn, manic energy and his strangely uncommunicative charisma.

Continue reading: Pollock Review