Healing Yoga: For Aches and Pains (2002)

This Healing Yoga title is a good one. The hosts are extremely pleasant and unobtrusive; they demonstrate the positions very well in a peaceful oceanfront setting with a sitar soundtrack as background. As a yoga newbie, however, I have a hard time with two tendencies in this program: 1) stating a plethora of procedural steps followed by "all the while, breathing in such-and-such a manner" (which is like a cooking program that mentions the first thing you were supposed to do only after listing all the previous things) and 2) invoking a range of New Age effects (whether actual, eventual, or imaginary) such as drawing energy up or pushing it down through your feet, feeling a ball of light in your abdomen, freeing up the tightness in this or that part of your body etc. (It may be that practicing the regimen for some time will eventually produce or inculcate that effect but all I know is that I have no idea what they're talking about at the time. If you mean imagination, say imagination. Or if you mean pain relief, how can you speak of it as actual or factual for everyone?) These adapted yoga moves seem appropriate and helpful to anyone who has pain or a limited range of motion. 3 stars.

Healing Yoga: For Common Conditions (2002)

This Healing Yoga title is good esp. for those with weight-related conditions that make strenuous exercise difficult. The leaders demonstrate abbreviated Yoga forms that are easier to accomplish for beginners and those whose mobility is restricted for the time being. At last -- a Yoga introduction that doesn't require you to already have the lithe body of a teenager! The pace of instruction is also appropriate (i.e., a position is not over before you can crane your neck over your shoulder and say "What did he say?"). On a practical note, it would help to just watch the routine through first to familiarize yourself with what is being done before you actually follow along, since it may be hard to see your laptop or TV screen while on your back, side, or belly. 3 stars.

Nova: Wright Brothers' Flying Machine (2004)

The Nova documentary on the Wright Brothers' Flying Machine is quite impressive. It not only puts into perspective the incredible advances in aeronautical design from a century ago that two bicycle-shop owners developed from scratch in just ten years but it showcases the authentic recreation and test flight program for several of the Wrights' original designs, again virtually from scratch (though with the advantage of computer-aided techniques to rediscover the long-lost blueprints using only a few surviving parts and one photo). Much of the Wrights' genius came through their approach to engineering design; esp., for example, their characteristically homebrew development of a wind tunnel and a wind-lift measuring system enabled them to build and test a full range of small-scale wing designs without the need to construct full-scale models or to actually fly them. The Wrights' approach relied on their own flight tests as the only reliable source of data and saw airflow control as pivotal, however, they designed a means of control into the structure but left the use of the control up to the pilot. The program shows how the Wrights' innovative hip harness and foot-control pedals work in actual test flights! For anyone who loves kites, gliders, airplanes, or aeronautical history, this 60-minute documentary comes highly recommended. Seeing their designs in flight is amazing! 4.5 stars.

Milk (2008)

"Hello! My name is Harvey Milk, and I'm here to recruit you!" Such was the self-satirizing refrain by which San Francisco grassroots politician Harvey Milk liked to introduce himself. The first openly gay candidate elected to public office, Milk began to take a stand and assert equal rights for the gay community in the 1970s, first by leading the establishment of a beachhead in the Castro district where gays could band together against police dragnets and brutality. (He saw his advocacy as a successor to the civil rights struggle for blacks in the 1960s while the right wing, famously led by Anita Bryant and others into the 1980s, preached that the gay agenda was to recruit and subvert God-fearing Christian children -- a homophobic assertion he cogently denied.) As an avowed heterosexual, I have no interest in seeing or hearing two men kiss and have sex, though to be fair the handful of such scenes in Milk were mainly in the dark or off-camera. More important are the Promethean qualities evinced by Milk's self-awareness and courage as he counsels young gays away from suicide induced by a gay-hating society. His civic leadership and national fame seems as important to the GLBT community as was Martin Luther King Jr.'s to the black community -- though the movie makes it clear that Milk knew the value of sound bites and staged theatrics. Indeed, the protests in this movie are so well choreographed -- everyone's fists pumping and every chanted slogan in perfect sync -- as to be engineered by a force greater than gay genes: Hollywood hagiography (plus many original protesters). Had he not been assassinated at 52 by a disgruntled co-worker, Milk would doubtless have become BFFs with Elton John, Princess Di, Versace, and the rest of their coterie. Though no saint, Milk was a clear-eyed, optimistic, humorous, self-deprecating populist precisely because he was a gay man who had faced his demons and persecutors and come to terms with who he had been made to be. As he famously said, "You've gotta give them hope!" The special features provide great historical perspective. For technical and narrative factors, 4 stars, but for mixed emotional impact, 3.5 stars.

Race to Witch Mountain (2009)

Dwayne Johnson's got it going on: He's chiseled in face and physique, he's smart and has great comic timing, and kids love the guy. He nimbly plays off his child costars in Game Plan and Race to Witch Mountain, where he comes off like a Doberman when he needs to be but one with a golden heart when kids need him. In his latest action/comedy vehicle, Race to Witch Mountain, Dwayne plays a former mafia wheelman who's determined to go straight -- and what Dwayne sets his mind to, he achieves. He picks up two fares -- or rather, the teens pick him -- but getting them to their destination ends up being a bigger challenge than expected, because the teens are space aliens in disguise, with mysterious powers and a mission to save Earth from imminent destruction. Oh yes, and a shadowy government organization is determined to capture them -- the kind that can make you disappear without even a "We could tell you, but then we'd have to kill you." This remake of the Witch Mountain movies, which ends with the blatant promise of a sequel, relies on extended adrenaline-inducing action and chase scenes as well as high-tech special effects. As such, it's far from usual Disney fare and closer to the Bourne or Transporter movies though with special effects in the vein of Jumper or Push. All the adults and kids in the opening-weekend theater seemed pleased with the show; both my 11-year-old viewing companions enjoyed it and my son promptly chimed in at the end, "We need to buy it." Speaking as an adult, Race was every bit as good as I hoped. (My favorite scene appeared in the previews where the boy stops a pursuing SUV.) Our alien teens (A Bridge to Terabithia's Annasophia Robb and Alexander Ludwig) play their roles to a tee. My guess is that few adults will see Race without the impetus of kids 8 and older but if you have such a motivation, here is a movie that's fast-paced and tense with comedic relief and a hero who's rock-steady in keeping a promise. 4 stars.

12 Angry Men (1957)

If you long for the halcyon days of good scriptwriting -- when Alfred Hitchcock and Rod Serling held sway -- then 12 Angry Men should do the trick. In a court of law, a jury of 12 varied personalities -- some disaffected, some cranky, but all men -- are assembled to determine the guilt or innocence of the accused, an 18-year-old. It seems like an open-and-shut case for the death penalty, at least to 11 of the jurors. But there is one holdout. He is cajoled and ridiculed but his conscience won't be moved. What are 11 men to do esp. since dinner is waiting on the table for them if and when they get home? How emotional can things get in one cramped room without AC? 12 Angry Men is some of the tightest moral-conscience writing of the 1940s and 50s and it features Jack Klugman, Henry Fonda, E.G. Marshall, and more. Don't miss this classic! 4.5 stars.

Bottle Shock (2008)

Bottle Shock is the entertaining portrayal of a British wine seller in France (the ever-engaging Alan Rickman) by whom pro-Gallic wine snobbery got its comeuppance from the rising challenge of California wines. True story: Thinking to put Napa and Sonoma wines in their place but dedicated to presenting a fair contest, Steven Spurrier (Rickman) conceived of and championed an international wine tasting competition that would pit French against California wines -- and the wine world was astonished when California won the double-blind competition hands-down. More so, however, Bottle Shock is the tale of hard-working American neophyte vintners determined to mortgage their futures and blaze new vinicultural paths. It's a story of faith in creativity, in gift, in self, and in the land -- blessed and sundrenched -- that is California. 4 stars.

Hollow Man (2000)

Hollow Man is a modern-day scientific take on The Invisible Man: How might an invisibility serum work if one were developed in an independent laboratory, and how "mad" might the lead scientist become as a result of his self-experimentation? Hollow Man sports some pretty cool special effects (as a gorilla and a human turn invisible in anatomically correct fashion from skin to internal organs to bones) and a few run-of-the-mill ones (a latex mold replaces the Ace bandage mask plus telltale lurking through clouds of steam and pools of blood). All the while, Kevin Bacon's true grit is making a fast break from fried to toasted to burnt-crisp. The script is marginally better than average but Bacon burbles as the prima-donna scientist turned demigod who doesn't want to be human (or moral) again -- and if that weren't enough, his lab director and former love interest (Elisabeth Shue) makes you want to root against him. Does she survive the carnage? You owe it to yourself to catch Hollow Man. 4 stars.

True Lies (1994)

True Lies is my favorite Arnold Schwarzenegger comedy. Ditto for Tom Arnold. Ditto for Jamie Lee Curtis (though if I were female, her trump card might be Freaky Friday). Ditto for Bill Paxton (Simon the seedy salesman/lothario with a secret agent schtick). Yep, True Lies is all-around good comedy. Great story. Good laughs. Good times. I'm always happy to catch it on cable plus I own the video. It just has so many classic lines, each one played to the hilt for comic timing. Tom Arnold: "Women--you can't live with them, you can't kill them." Ahnuld: "Sorry... Sorry..." Jamie: *Thud!* I mean really, True Lies is full of so many classic secret agent scenes (serious and schmaltzy) that it plays the perfect balance between taking itself seriously and just having fun with it. It's fast-paced, full of action, character-driven, and hilarious. What's not to love? For all-around superb mass-market comedies, True Lies is one of my all-time favorites. 5 stars.

Fairly Oddparents: Abra-Catastrophe the Movie (2003)

The Fairly Oddparents is one of the funniest cartoons on the planet with fast-paced, jam-packed laugh appeal for kids as well as adults. (I think only the new Penguins of Madagascar has more perfect physical humor and pithy one-liners per minute.) Abra-Catastrophe starts with Timmy Turner dreaming in perfect spoofs of The Empire Strikes Back, Spider-Man 3, and Jurassic Park. He wakes up to be given a "magic fairy muffin" that grants anyone who eats it anything they wish -- which is a problem because if Crocker, the crazed teacher with a fixation on fairies, gets it, he intends to make himself supreme evil ruler of the world. All kinds of complications ensue -- including a movie-in-the-movie called Fairly Odd Primates. I never tire of catching this cartoon on cable. 5 stars.

Star Wars: The Clone Wars: Season 1 (2008)

The Star Wars: Clone Wars field is getting a bit confusing. First we got Star Wars: Clone Wars: Vol. 1 and 2 with Genndy Tartakovsky's appealing style of 2D animation in a series of cartoon-length snippets. Next we got Star Wars: Clone Wars with Dave Filoni's totemic style of 3D animation in what amounts to a prequel to the present Star Wars: Clone Wars: Season 1. (It thereby becomes a prequel to a prequel to a prequel, since the whole Clone Wars saga is meant to expand on the Star Wars saga between the second and third movies, which are themselves later-released "prequels" to the original Star Wars movie, now called Star Wars IV: The New Hope.) This TV series -- where Count Dooku continues to look and grandstand like a totem pole -- shows more development and maturity than its introduction in that the battles are a bit more realistic (if such a word could ever be applied to anything in the Star Wars canon). The battles that turn ships into laserbeam-riddled pincushions occur less at the hands of droid ground troops and more at the onslaught of Gen. Grevious's ship, the Malevolence. (Aside from his cantankerous and combative personality, being commander of a ship so named is a dead giveaway that you're the alpha bad guy.) Obi-Wan still looks carved from wood too but Anakin seems slightly more humanized. (He wryly jokes more and is kinder to his apprentice Ahsoka.) Best of all, Jedi masters Yoda and Plo Koon show their love and loyalty to each individual clone trooper, recognizing their individuality and value and standing with them to the last. Battle droids are used to more humorous effect though Yoda proves his mettle against 1,000 of Dooku's troops. This series will appeal to must-see-it-all Star Wars fans, of course, but also boys through age 13 and a smattering of parents and siblings who get pulled in with them. 4 stars.

Rat Pfink and Boo-Boo (1966)

Rat Pfink a[nd] Boo-Boo is really one of those movies that makes you say: "Wow. What was that?" (At least the typos in the title are real; they didn't have the money to fix them.) Having heard about the movie, I expected something like Patrick Warburton in The Tick but campier. Well, try going back earlier and campier than Adam West in Batman. Try going back to Beach Blanket Gidget and Roustabout. Then get a bunch of no-name actors, pay them nothing, and make a movie on a budget of literally $20 plus film. Our heroes' costumes go beyond discount-rack kitsch and all the way to trashcan salvage with ragged holes for their mouths and eyes: Vin Saxon as Rat Pfink dons a cape and ski mask and Titus Moede as Boo-Boo sports -- um -- let's just say he looks like a baby-bull pinata in a mask and diapers made of Zubaz jams. Rat Pfink's voice and schtick seem to be the original models behind Batman's and Tick's "retro" patter-of-justice. And even though the chase and fight scenes go on interminably and our heroes don't appear (in their alter-egos) till the halfway mark, I found myself feeling affection and concern for them and the attractive girl they're rescuing (Carolyn Brandt as Cee Bee) from three baddies (Linc, Hammer, and crazy-but-dim Benjie). To see this pfilm, you'll need a largesse of patience and humor -- even mine were tested -- but if you like movies too weird and rare to be found in the off-price bin, Rat Pfink and Boo-Boo are your guys! 2.5 stars.

Hit Celebrity TV Commercials (2004)

A cheap '80s-era introduction bookends this smattering of 74 TV commercials spanning several decades from Spanky McFarland to Don Johnson. A half-dozen are memorable, including Tim Conway for Lay's chips and Iron Eye Cody (the Native American with a tear in his eye) against litter. The rest are a soft spread of nostalgia if you've lived through the past 60 years or are interested in them: Roy Rogers and Dale Evans, George Burns and Gracie Allen, Arthur Godfrey (who is so relaxed and spontaneously off-script and funny that you wonder what he's been smoking), Ronald Reagan, what's-his-name and Mister Ed, Mclean Stevenson, Harry Morgan (with black hair), Fred McMurray, Andy Griffith, a few ingenues like Cybill Shepherd and Farrah Fawcett, and classic matrons like Jean Stapleton and Rue McLenahan. Three commercials were clearly not final versions but they were entertaining and revealing just so. The audio track sounds fine. IW. 2.5 stars.

Run Lola Run (Lola Rennt) (1998)

Franka Potente burst on the scene as the star of Run Lola Run, a heartpounding adrenaline-fueled thrill ride with a driving Eurotechnopop soundtrack. As the brains of the young couple, Lola gets an urgent call from her boyfriend Manni: "Please! Help me replace the $100K in Deutsche marks I just lost or I will be killed in 20 minutes by the drug boss who trusted me with his errand." She thinks first of her problematic bank-manager father, then leaves the house running... as developments unroll (or complications unravel) unrelentingly for the next 20 minutes. Even so, it would be a very short movie, except the story resets itself to run through it all again -- and again -- each time with minor yet significant tweaks in search of a satisfactory ending for the devoted and star-crossed lovers. Nothing about Lola is predictable; she and this movie are in a hyperkinetic race to show how free will and thinking on one's feet can make all the difference in the world. I've seen this movie several times, I own it, and I can't see ever getting tired of watching it. See it in German with English subtitles. Lola is addictive; I hope you'll watch her and agree. 5 stars.

Miracle at St. Anna (2008)

This movie gave me the distinct preconception that it was about a miracle somehow involving an Italian orphan boy, a decapitated architectural head, and the escape of a group of American "Buffalo soldiers" surrounded by Germans during WWII. What the movie turned out to be, however, was a powerful if extended and often muddy exploration of wartime violence, suffering and injustice, racial prejudice, hope, and sacrifice -- with a whimper of a so-called miracle at the end. Miracle of St. Anna not only felt like a mix of several movie plots in one but also a mashup of scenes from probably every movie Spike Lee has ever seen. (No kidding, I could name several dozen movie scenes that felt strongly reminiscent if not lifted from other directors' offerings: Millions, Glory, Platoon, Blackhawk Down, Band of Brothers, Saving Private Ryan, 300, Captain Corelli's Mandolin, Life Is Wonderful, A Time to Kill, and so on.) The wartime story is powerful with often graphic carnage of Buffalo soldiers pinned down for the slaughter and of innocent civilians slaughtered like bowling pins. (One of the most reprehensible scenes of Nazi carnage is the assassination of a parish priest followed by the massacre of an entire town in the church square, with blood splattering across the bullet holes being pockmarked in the church walls.) America's black soldiers are an experimental regiment, considered "equal enough" to fight -- just not alongside white soldiers. Their courage in an exceptional situation is exemplary -- this is a Spike Lee movie after all -- though racial turmoil is too simplistic of a scapegoat. The Italian boy is a salvific figure of innocence and his relationship with his "chocolate giant" is sweet and memorable. However, the stone head seems to be superstition only and I wish more than lip service could have been paid to the theme of a miraculous escape through the mountains of Tuscany. You don't want to know how many are left alive by the end (in the "then" or in the "now"). I will just say I loved the ending! 4 stars. (3-11-09)

Holidaze: The Christmas That Almost Didn't Happen (2006)

The Christmas That Almost Didn't Happen is a cute updated mashup in the style of the Rankin Bass stopmotion Christmas specials. Think of it as Robbie Reindeer and the Hooves of Fire meets South Park (for the bleary eyes and repartee but not the language). The story is clean and full of hilarious bits plus the voice talent is excellent. First you have Fred Savage as Rusty the Reindeer, the inverse-proportionally-famous brother of another unnamed reindeer (whose dad won't stop talking about his famous offspring). Then you have Fred Willard as a figurehead Santa Claus who's about as emptyheaded as Willard Scott and Edie McClurg as the eggnog-swilling Mrs. Claus. In the Big City, John O'Hurley is Kringle, the blowhard thespian and department-store Santa, and support-group members include Gladys Knight as Candie, Harland Williams as Albert the Thanksgiving Day Turkey, Paul Rodriguez as Cupid, and Emily Osment and Brenda Song as Trick and Treat. The cultural references come chockablock as this show makes fun of cooking shows, American Idol, altrock and gothrock music videos, Edward Hopper's Nighthawks, FedEx, Wal-Mart, and much more. IW. 4.5 stars.

Crawford (2008)

Crawford is a balanced and revealing before-and-after documentary about the small-town Texas community that George W. Bush chose to settle in at the start of his presidential campaign. It follows residents of 5 years, 40 years, and numerous lifetimes as they describe the Crawford they knew before and after W. (some with regret, some with relief). You won't often see a more folksy old coot than the gap-toothed Pug or a more staunch Republican than the fleshy-cheeked souvenir shop owner. (Her unquestioning devotion to W.'s talking points and to W. himself are never so surreal as when she's mooning over the talking W. doll with its "evildoers" patter.) The high-school teacher who likes to mix it up and get students and townspeople to talk about why they believe what they believe (esp. where facts or logic are lacking) is a stitch. The peace activists who descended on the town a force of nature that some townsfolk revile as "godless Commie scum" since that's what Fox News would do. No political or partisan sidetaking here, just vignettes of real human beings told in their own words and facial expressions. It's an intimate portrait of a town you can respect and admire even with its broken dreams. Here is a documentary that's a bit ragged but will stay with me a long time. IW. 4 stars.

Beverly Hills Chihuahua (2008)

Enjoy the trailer's Berkleyesque musical number (resplendent with phalanxes of costumed singing and dancing chihuahuas) and Cheech Marin's luxuriant pronunciation of "Chi-hua-hua!" because the movie never includes that fun riff. (I felt cheated after my first viewing because I wanted an over-the-top movie but I softened on that score after my second viewing.) Beverly Hills Chihuahua is at its best in the first 15 minutes as we see how far fashion designer Viv (Jamie Lee Curtis) will go to pamper her dog Chloe (voiced by Drew Barrymore). The rest of the plot is cookie-cutter vanilla -- the Hispanic gardener shows up with his smelly lover-boy chihuahua Papi (voiced by George Lopez), an irresponsible dogsitter (Piper Perabo) takes Chloe on a daytrip to Mexico, Chloe is lost and pursued by dogfight cartel bad guys (and a bad-to-the-bone Doberman) -- but not half-baked since Chloe learns several tidy morals about friends and respect by the closing bell. That's Disney -- but Drew does Chloe proud. The best scene was when Chloe met the Mexican chihuahuas -- "We are small but mighty!" -- because that is truly the chihuahua spirit. As a dachshund owner myself (another dog beloved by owners but thought cartoonish by others), I can say this movie will appeal to kids, Hispanics, and dog lovers primarily with parents as a secondary audience. 3.5 stars. (3-8-09 updated 3-27-09)

Scary Godmother: Halloween Spooktakular (2003)

Scary Godmother is just about too cute by half (whatever that means). I really enjoyed this show when I first ran across it on TV and I've seen it a few times now on TV as well as DVD. The animation is quasi-rough and quirky but therein -- with its characters -- lies its appeal. Scary (as her friends know her) is a slender, bubbly, mirthful character who flits and flutters on tiny wings, long gangly legs splayed behind in her manic wake. She wears a huge witch's hat and tutu, makes magic, and flies a broom but she's really Miss Frizzle with twice the wackiness. Her skeletal "broommate" would fit right in on Queer Eye, dances and sings when he's not detaching his skull, and enthusiastically pronounces things "Fa-a-abulous!" These two are often waving off a mooching werewolf neighbor who eats all Scary's refreshments and speaks in pretentious stentorian tones. A bedroom-closet monster with many eyes and a huge mouth rounds out the mix -- he's loud, actually quite friendly -- and seems to hail from da Bronx! The voice talent and animators have a lot of room to play with on this show -- and it shows. The story is simple: Four older kids decide to scare sweet young Hannah Marie so they can rake in boatloads of Halloween candy on their own. Their plan backfires; as they cool their heels, Hannah Marie makes new friends. There's plenty of low-key drollery in the props and dialog. I like the Halloween costumes, esp. the SUV, and the popcorn ball gag at the end. The music is wild and the whole thing is slaphappy. I hope you like it enough to make it an annual viewing tradition. I did. 4 stars. (3-5-09)

The Scary Godmother 2: The Revenge of Jimmy (2006)

TV. My youngest son and I have enjoyed the Scary Godmother stories on television each Halloween season so we were pleased to see the second show in the series on DVD. (Netflix does not even list these titles and availability has been constrained for the first show on Blockbuster.) We even watched the making-of featurette, which vaunted the creative and voice-talent processes quite entertainingly. Scary Godmother is like a cool aunt who just happens to live in a spooky alternate-dimension haunted house that only cutie-pie Hannah-Marie can enter with a special key. (Think Miss Frizzle with maniacally fluttering bat wings and a broom. She's actually a hottie in a frenetic, ghoulish-girl kind of way.) Skully Pettibones is her jumbly-tumbly gayish "broommate," as is Bug-A-Boo, a roly-poly polyoptic monster that has to hail from da Bronx. Harry the food-snatching werewolf hangs around and makes a pest of himself while a vampire family (Count Max, Ruby, and Orson) make polite if Gothic appearances. Jimmy is Hannah's mean older cousin who is always trying to ruin Halloween for all the other kids. The shows hew closely to the books by Jill Thompson so they portray a lot of whimsy and even some in-jokes. (Harry lives in Ackerman Forest which is a play on Forrest Ackerman.) The CGI characters occasionally reveal a bit of corner-cutting (in detail and resolution) but remain esthetically pleasing. The action is often springy and manic (but no more than Madagascar); it's a cartoon after all. These shows have become a tradition for us; maybe they will for you too. 3.5 stars. (3-31-08 updated 3-4-09)

Religulous (2008)

Raised by his late Jewish mother (who appears with his sister among the interviews) and Catholic father in the Roman faith he gave up as a boy, Bill Maher is fairly insightful and philosophical as a standup comedian and talk-show host. He applies his trademark acerbic wit to the question “Why have faith at all?” in his latest DVD, Religulous. (The title is meant to combine the words Religious and Ridiculous -- with more than a whiff of Sacriligious for many Jewish, Christian, and Muslim believers as well as Nazi and Scientology adherents.) Maher knows how to skewer both ignorance and hypocrisy in true (overtly defensive) believers, whether mainstream or fundamentalist or sectarian. He also takes pot shots at some but an impartial observer might argue they had it coming. The inability of many believers to make even a rudimentary defense of their faith is not the point, however. Roman Catholics come off better than fundamentalists, certainly, but just barely since Maher’s central premise is not about certainty or even faith but doubt and even skepticism: Why believe incredible and unprovable claims? The integrity of televangelists is an easy mark but his sit-down session with one prosperity-gospel preacher is astonishing in how candidly (politely yet bluntly) Maher discredits this guy’s faith-to-riches mantra as contrary to Christ’s message. His targets are wide-ranging and his interviews are civil but he’s clearly any Sunday school teacher’s worst fear. Maher is a seeker of important answers in the era of the Holocaust and suicide bombers. Granted, he says something at one point or another to frustrate or anger almost any person of faith but I think carefully considering his questions could actually help strengthen the faith of those who would otherwise be only preaching to the choir. 4.5 stars.

Journey to the Center of the Earth (2008)

This movie is The Lost World (any version) meets The Core. Let’s just be clear: For a year that for some reason saw the release of three titles called Journey to the Center of the Earth, this one with Greg and Vanessa Evigan should be the last one you see, and then only under duress. (I selected it from redbox by accident as my free Monday rental because of a long line.) Run to the one with Brendan Fraser or even jog to the one with Rick Schroeder but should you see this one, flee! It didn’t exactly reek but it was distinctly underwhelming. Throw six nubile female “soldiers” through a teleporter only to face a T-Rex -- and get a snoozefest? Done and done. At least the gals were trained to somewhat believably hold their weapons and act like a squad as they tried to figure out how to survive their mission gone awry. However, too often they seemed like girls on a shopping expedition gone sour more than trained soldiers on what could have been a death march for all. While the rescue mission was implausible, I enjoyed the lead scientist (Dedee Pfeiffer) and her quirkiness (esp. her oral fixation). That said, Greg Evigan’s constant one-note smirk was just too cheesy for words. The rescue half of the movie was straight out of The Core -- though less overblown. It wasn’t a painful movie to watch but there are so many better ones. You have been warned. 2.5 stars.