Sunset Blvd.: Strange beginning that never lets up. It’s a biting portrait of Hollywood and how its obsession with youth affects older stars. A young screenwriter gets involved with an aging silent movie star. Odd things happen. Get ready for your closeup!

The Natural: I can’t believe it took me so long to see this! Granted, I don’t like baseball, but Robert Redford is a reason to see any movie. Plus, I wanted to see Glenn Close in a nice role for a change. The score by Randy Newman rocked this movie into iconic status. I love the reflections of Arthurian legend (his magical bat, carved from a tree struck by lightning, and his team’s name, the New York Knights).

Chinatown: Wow is about all can I say after watching Jack Nicholson in this drama involving incest and political corruption in Los Angeles. He was brilliant even in his younger days. Watch it for the acting and the tight, engrossing script. You won’t be disappointed.

American Gangster
Opens Nov. 2
Anything with Denzel Washington has to be good, but add Russell Crowe and director Ridley Scott and this film has promise. I’m looking forward to it, and want it to be intense without being too over-the-top.

Lions For Lambs
Opens Nov. 9
Hey may be a little kooky, but Tom Cruise can act. Throw in Meryl Streep and Robert Redford, and this one has potential to be the movie of the year. Here’s hoping it resists the temptation to make a political statement one way or the other.

I Am Legend
Opens Dec.12
I Am Legend chronicles a biological holocaust that has left only one man to fend off a race of mutant vampires. OK, this could be the biggest flop of the year or it could be something really cool. It makes me think of the Stephen King book The Stand, which didn’t translate well to film. But neither did most of King’s other books.

National Treasure: Book of Secrets
Opens Dec. 21
I think Nic Cage plans to kidnap the President, or something like that, so he can get his hands on this big book of secrets that the president has. The book is supposed to contain all the answers to all the big questions: (1) Are there UFOs? (2) Was there a conspiracy to assassinate JFK? (3) Are television reality shows a communist plot to dumb down America?

“The Brave One” starring Jodie Foster and Terrence Howard opened this weekend at Northside Cinema II. I’ve been waiting to see this movie for a while. Two great actors, a good director and a vigilante movie to boot should make for a great movie. Well, sort of anyway.

Foster plays radio talk show host Erica Bain, who has a great life in New York, complete with a fiancé and a hit radio show. Howard portrays a sympathetic cop who is frustrated by the system when a notorious gangster that he has been trying to nail eludes his grasp once again.
After the initial character setup the plot enters when Foster is severely beaten and her fiancé is brutally killed at night by a group of thugs while walking their dog in the park. She recovers physically but is left with an emotional void when the police seem uninterested in her plight to find the killers.

This movie is well acted. Terrence Howard was convincing in his role and Foster really dressed down for the lead part, which is becoming a cliché thing for actresses in Hollywood since Charlize Theron won the Oscar for “Monster”, and Hillary Swank won for, “Million Dollar Baby.”

If you’ve ever watched the film Death Wish,” made in 1974, starring Charles Bronson you’ve seen this movie already. The plot synopsis is exactly the same. I was hoping for something a little better in the way of a more grown-up thought-provoking film but was left with a movie mired in its own pretentiousness. There were absolutely no surprises in the film either which made the predictable ending misfire with me.

I can’t say that I disliked this movie totally but I can’t see myself waiting on a Tuesday morning for Movie Gallery to open to catch it on DVD either.

Jay Hare
Your Cinematic Advisor

The general plot involves a poor rancher trying to feed his family during a drought and due to certain events (I don’t want to reveal too much of the plot) he is offered a huge sum of money to help escort a notorious outlaw, played by Crowe, to a train that will take him prison. The tale seems simple enough, but the underlying theme is a complex study of redemption and relationships.

Christian Bale was cast as the good guy, Dan Evans, a struggling rancher trying to raise a family with a handicap. I’ve seen a lot of movies with Bale, and he’s always good and memorable in anything he does. Watch “American Psycho” and “Reign of Fire,” which were not great movies by any stretch of the imagination, but the roles were polar opposites. He plays a great villain or hero, which not many actors can pull off convincingly.

If you like Westerns you’ll love this movie. Even if you don’t like this genre you may enjoy the acting and great dialogue. This film also had great action sequences that were not gratuitous and added to the story. Director James Mangold handled this movie well and made this a memorable cinematic experience on par with “Tombstone,” another great modern Western.

I’m not sure how to gauge an Oscar-worthy performance, but Russell Crowe delivered another one in my opinion. As good as Bale was in his role, Crowe stole the show portraying an evil man with a sense of goodness in him that resonated well in the movie and could possibly revive Westerns in modern cinema. 

Why, you ask? It’s because that movie changed my life. After repeated viewings, I still get inspired. That’s good movie-making. Give it a chance, even if you’re not a fan of Johnny Cash.

The movie is about his life — his struggles, redemption and most importantly, love. The Man in Black was a rebel and one of the biggest legends in music. 

The casting is brilliant, with Joaquin Phoenix playing Cash and Reese Witherspoon playing June Carter. Their chemistry rocks from their first meeting, when they collide backstage before a concert. The fact that they sang their parts makes them even more respectable. It’s no wonder Reese won the Best Actress Oscar, and Joaquin was nominated for Best Actor. He might have deserved the Oscar over Phillip Seymour Hoffman (who won for “Capote”), but I can’t say because I haven’t seen “Capote.”

I became a fan of Joaquin after seeing him as the villain Commodus in “Gladiator,” and I think he was born to play Johnny Cash. No one can ever copy Cash’s deep-as-the-night voice or persona, but Joaquin put his heart and soul into this movie.

However, on some online message boards, people argue that Russell Crowe would have been a better Johnny Cash. What do you think? Was Joaquin the best choice?

Director James Mangold (“Girl Interrupted,” “Identity”) shows his ability to shine in many genres. He explains in the commentary (I recommend listening to this) how he used close-up shots so you feel like you are part of the actors’ conversations. The concert scenes are my favorite, especially at Folsom. Joaquin was at his best in that infectious, rocking show.

This movie gets better every time I watch it. That’s what makes it one of my top 10 movies. Tell me why you like or dislike it, and check back to learn the others on my list.

“Walk the Line” is rated PG-13 and runs 2 hours and 16 minutes.

My rating: Five out of five stars

Cash memorabilia: I have a Johnny Cash T-shirt that I wear proudly and a Cash album cover (thanks Daddy!).

Interesting tidbit: Johnny and June approved of Joaquin’s and Reese’s casting before their deaths in 2003.