The Fall ****

In a hospital in '20's Los Angeles, an injured actor (Lee Pace) begins to tell a story to a young girl with a broken arm (Catinca Untaru). As his story unfolds, the muted sepia tones of the hospital world contrast with the voluptuous, exotic visual feast of his tale - a movie within a movie. The denizens of the hospital, every-day people, become colorful heroes in the imagined world.

And what a world! Director/writer Tarsem Singh ("The Cell"), reportedly used only actual locations around the world for his action adventure, with no CGI. The color and drama and child-like view of the tale have a poetic reality, while the realistic grim tragedy lurking in the patients' lives in the hospital slowly becomes apparent.

The action scenes of the fable are ravishing and arresting, the locations stunning, the costumes iconic. But that world slowly becomes more real as we get to know the characters, and in the end, we are as caught up in that world as the young Alexandria. And further, we realize, as Alexandria does not, that Roy Walker has a hidden motive behind his storytelling. In the end, Alexandria enters the world of the heroes to become a hero herself, and Roy must decide whether he can find the courage to live in reality.

Beyond the visual riches, of course, there must be performances. And Lee Pace and the amazing Catinca Untaru do deliver. Tarsem Singh has given us a beautiful and accomplished film, wonderfully composed and spectacularly realized.

Rated R. 117 minutes. Tarsem Singh - Director / Writer (screenplay) / Producer, Dan Gilroy - Writer (screenplay), Nico Soultanakis - Writer (screenplay), Valery Petrov¹ - Writer (1981 screenplay Yo Ho Ho), Colin Watkinson - Cinematographer, Krishna Levy - Composer, Ged Clarke - Production Designer, Robert Duffy - Editor.

Principal actors: Catinca Untaru, Justine Waddell, Lee Pace, Julian Bleach, Leo Bill, Marcus Wesley.

Baby Mama **

"Baby Mama" is a mildly amusing tale of a high-powered business executive (Tina Fey) who can't have children, and the manufactured housing - OK, trailer trash - surrogate mother she hires (Amy Poehler). These two give credible performances: Fey is fetching and smart, and Poehler is such a lowlife that you want to throttle her. There are some nice smaller roles: Greg Kinnear provides some welcome warmth as the ex-lawyer juice bar owner, Romany Malco does a wonderful turn as the doorman, and Steve Martin is a delight as Tina's self-absorbed New-Age boss.

But the story by writer/director Michael McCullers delivers neither the punch of his Austin Powers scripts, nor the warmth expected from such a subject. The complications and deceptions are clumsily drawn, and climactic scenes are awkwardly staged. Interestingly enough, the office and business scenes at the organic grocer where Tina works are much more believable and well-written, even with Steve Martin's name-dropping, pony-tailed shenanigans. On the other hand, the movie doesn't overstay its welcome, and provides a few memorable scenes.

Rated PG-13. 99 minutes. Michael McCullers - Director / Writer, John Goldwyn - Producer, Lorne Michaels - Producer, Daryn Okada - Cinematographer, Jeff Richmond - Composer, Bruce Green - Editor.

Principal actors: Amy Poehler , Tina Fey, Greg Kinnear , Dax Shepard, Romany Malco , Sigourney Weaver, Steve Martin.

The Visitor ****

"The Visitor" shows us a man reconnecting with life as he gets involved in the circumstances of two illegal immigrants whose own situations are a precarious mix of survival and living in the shadows. Character-driven, with uniformly excellent performances (watch for these names at award time), this second film from writer/director Thomas McCarthy - his first was the highly-praised "The Station Agent" (2003) - is a moving story and a surprising, up-close view of the post-9/11 plight of illegal immigrants who have been denied asylum.

Richard Jenkins, who we've seen in literally scores of films in minor roles, here plays Walter Vale, a college professor just going through the motions. McCarthy shows us scenes from his life, teaching one class, going to lunch, taking piano lessons at 61, talking about a book we don't see him working on. In a few deft strokes, McCarthy and Jenkins lay out his bleak life, a life that seems to have totally deflated after his wife died.

Vale must go to New York for a conference, and finds a couple living in his apartment (Haaz Sleiman and Danai Gurira) who have been scammed into paying someone to live in Vale's mostly-unused apartment. After first kicking them out, Vale relents and opens up just the slightest bit, and lets them stay while they look for another place.

What follows is organically told and revelatory. Sleiman is a drummer from Syria, and something in Vale responds to the African rhythms in the jazz clubs and parks of New York. Vale gets a drum lesson from Tarek, and slowly starts to come out of his shell. The writing, directing, and acting are here of the highest order. Sleiman is charming and magnetic, while Gurira is an African goddess: beautiful, exotic, and suspicious. An unexpected crisis bring Tarek's mother (a fine Hiam Abbass) into the picture, and Vale's reintroduction to life expands again.

"The Visitor" may surprise in its depiction of illegal immigrants, who are notably voiceless this election year, but it does not come across as a political tract, but rather as a glimpse into some lives that we would not have otherwise known.

Rated PG-13. 108 minutes. Thomas McCarthy - Director / Writer (screenplay), Michael London - Producer, Mary Jane Skalski - Producer, Jeff Skoll - Producer, Oliver Bokelberg - Cinematographer, Jan A.P. Kaczmarek - Composer, John Paino - Production Designer, Tom McArdle - Editor. Distributed by OvertureFilms.

Principal actors: Richard Jenkins, Haaz Sleiman, Danai Gurira, Hiam Abbass, Marian Seldes.

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull ***

"Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull" brings us back to the continuing saga of the archaeology professor/adventurer fifteen years later, which works out fine for Harrison Ford, since it has been about that long since the last installment. This time we're in the fifties, so instead of Nazi villains, we have Russian Communist villains, "better dead than red" rallies, the Bomb, and a sidekick with sideburns and a comb mixed in with ancient mysteries and a hidden treasure with its own fifties cachet. It's all great fun. If you liked the other Indiana Jones movies, you'll like this one, and if you're too young to remember the first three, then you're in for a treat.

Harrison Ford carries himself creditably in the action sequences, Shia LaBeouf makes an appealing apprentice, and Cate Blanchett is a wonderfully cold, cruel, and driven adversary with more than a touch of the dominatrix. But as always, the real star is the action sequences. From the first motorcycle chase on campus running from Russian agents (shot on location at Yale I do believe), to the jungles of South America, Spielberg displays his mastery of the form. One small caveat: that truck chase through the jungle does go on a tad too long. Other than that, I say just sit back, don't take it too seriously, and have a great ride.

Rated PG-13. 124 minutes. Steven Spielberg - Director, David Koepp - Writer (screenplay), George Lucas - Writer (story) (characters), Jeff Nathanson - Writer (story), Philip Kaufman - Writer (characters), Frank Marshall - Producer, Janusz Kaminski - Cinematographer, John Williams - Composer, Guy Hendrix Dyas¹ - Production Designer, Michael Kahn - Editor. Distributed by Paramount Home Entertainment.

Principal actors: Harrison Ford, Shia LaBeouf, Cate Blanchett, Ray Winstone, Karen Allen, John Hurt, and Jim Broadbent.

The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian **

"The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian" is a big-budget, special-effects-rich tale with a lot of PG-rated action (no blood), but a weak and confused story. It's 1600 years later in Narnia, and The Siblings are needed once more as a ruined Narnia is threatened with utter destruction from the neighboring kingdom. This time around the creatures are less of a wonder, and talking animals have lost their surprise. The mythology of Aslan, the god lion, is just silly. He's still around, but apparently he doesn't want to get involved unless The Siblings are in mortal danger. Why he takes this attitude is not explained.

Kids will enjoy the movie for the special effects and the battle scenes, but adults who are looking for more will be bored, and both kids and adults will wonder why it took almost two and a half hours to get it all done.

Rated PG. 144 minutes. Andrew Adamson - Director / Writer (screenplay) / Producer, Christopher Markus - Writer (screenplay), Stephen McFeely - Writer (screenplay), C.S. Lewis - Writer (novel), Mark Johnson - Producer, Perry Moore - Producer, Philip Steuer - Producer, Karl Walter Lindenlaub - Cinematographer, Harry Gregson-Williams - Composer, Roger Ford - Production Designer, Sim Evan-Jones - Editor. Distributed by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures.

Principal actors: Georgie Henley, Skandar Keynes, William Moseley, Anna Popplewell, Ben Barnes, Peter Dinklage, Warwick Davis, and Vincent Grass.

Then She Found Me ***

"Then She Found Me" was obviously a labor of love for Helen Hunt. She starred, directed, and produced the movie, and co-wrote the screenplay adaptation of Elinor Lipman's novel of the same name. It's a funny, interesting, difficult film about a difficult and interesting middle-aged woman who is forced to confront herself when faced with multiple life-changing events.

When we meet her, April Epner (Hunt) has a history we can imagine. She is middle aged but newly married. She is desperate to have a child before it's too late. She is great with her school kids (she's a grammar school teacher) but not so great with adults. There are issues with her boy-man husband (a suitably immature Matthew Brokerick), issues with her mother, who wants her to adopt (like she did). Then when she loses both her husband and her mother, she's suddenly confronted with her birth mother (an intense but controlled Bette Midler) and a suitor (winningly play by Colin Firth).

What April learns in the course of the movie is, as I say, funny, difficult and interesting, and the movie does not give us an easy way to get there. Hunt does a fine job of both directing and acting, and makes us look at her without the star hair and make-up treatment, too-skinny neck and all, which is so true to the character, but difficult and interesting to watch. This movie will not find a big audience, but it's worth your consideration as a movie about a real-sounding person in a real place who does learn some not-easy lessons.

Rated R. 100 minutes. Helen Hunt - Director / Writer (screenplay) / Producer, Alice Arlen - Writer (screenplay), Victor Levin - Writer (screenplay), Elinor Lipman - Writer (novel), Pamela Koffler - Producer, Katie Roumel - Producer, Connie Tavel - Producer, Christine Vachon - Producer, Peter Donahue - Cinematographer, David Mansfield - Composer, Stephen Beatrice - Production Designer, Pam Wise - Editor. Distributed in the U.S. by THINKFilm.

Principal actors: Helen Hunt, Bette Midler, Colin Firth, Matthew Broderick, and Ben Shankman.

What Happens in Vegas **

"What Happens in Vegas" is a pleasant screwball comedy with two attractive leads (Cameron Diaz and Ashton Kutcher) that scores a few effective scenes. It's no "Forgetting Sarah Marshall" but it is a cut above this season's other entrant, "Made of Honor." If you like these two actors, you'll enjoy it.

The story is clever: two young people running from recent traumas in their lives meet in Vegas and impulsively get married. Next morning they realize it was a big mistake. Then one of them wins a $3 million jackpot with the other's quarter, and they each want the prize. A judge sentences them to "six months hard marriage" before making a decision on their case.

The situations that ensue as they put on a show of harmony for the judge while trying to undermine the other may be predictable, but writer Dana Fox has a few new twists and some good dialog and we watch these two get to know each other. Director Tom Vaughn, whose "Starter for 10" was a worthy low-budget film that gave us a breakout performance from James McEvoy, here proves himself capable of handling the big budgets and the big stars.

Rated PG-13. 99 minutes. Tom Vaughan - Director, Dana Fox - Writer, Michael Aguilar - Producer, Dean Georgaris - Producer, Shawn Levy - Producer, Matthew F. Leonetti - Cinematographer, Christophe Beck - Composer, Stuart Wurtzel - Production Designer, Matt Friedman - Editor. Distributed by 20th Century Fox.

Principal actors: Cameron Diaz, Ashton Kutcher, Rob Corddry, Treat Williams, and Dennis Farina.

Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay ***

Heedless stoners may be the text, but racism and prejudice are the subtext, really the subject, of "Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay." Ingenious bonger Kumar Patel (Kal Penn) has invented a smokeless device that will allow him to get as high as his airplane on his flight to Amsterdam with his buddy Harold Lee (John Cho). Needless to say, shit happens, and when smoke from Kumar's broken "smokeless" bong sets off the restroom alarm, passengers misinterpret dark-skinned Kumar's explanation that "It's a bong!" to mean that "It's a bomb!". (One can only wonder if "it's a blog!" will be the framing device of "Harold & Kumar 3".)

Harold and Kumar soon find themselves in Guantanamo prison (no charges nor trial necessary for enemy combatants, remember?), and facing the prospect of sucking on their least-favorite kind of prison guard all-meat tube steak. H & K get a chance to escape, and embark on a trek from Miami to Texas in a quest for justice, or at least for the intervention of the powerful. The road movie that ensues is funny, surprising, and incisive in its illumination of the racist facets of America. And through it all, Harold and Kumar seem to understand the odds they're up against, while remaining totally immune from the racist traps of their tormentors.

"Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay" is funny, subversive, and a thought-provoking movie, even if it's disguised as a total stoner distraction. Maybe that is its real insidious distinction. It goes down so easily, but later you think about the issues.

Rated R. 102 minutes. Jon Hurwitz - Director / Writer (characters), Hayden Schlossberg - Director / Writer (characters), Nathan Kahane - Producer, Greg Shapiro - Producer, Daryn Okada - Cinematographer, George S. Clinton - Composer, Tony Fanning - Production Designer, Jeff Freeman - Editor. Distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures.

Principal actors: John Cho, Kal Penn, Rob Corddry, Roger Bart, Neil Patrick Harris, Kal Penn, Rob Corddry, Roger Bart, and Neil Patrick Harris.

Iron Man ****

"Iron Man" is a super-satisfying, super-action-filled, super-entertaining movie that surpasses the genre. And since his power comes from a super-advanced, self-propelled suit of armor, the hero Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) remains a very human protagonist - super-intelligent and super-wealthy, sure, but still a guy you can relate to. He even has his flaws, which, with the superb acting from Downey, and the inevitable baggage he brings to the role - I hasten to say the performance stands on its own - gives a depth of character seldom seen in the ranks of the super-heroes.

Director Jon Favreau ("Zathura," "Elf") gets the most from a talented cast. In another world far different from that previous one with flying robots,"Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow" (2004), Gwyneth Paltrow here redeems herself for that lifeless performance. Her 'Pepper" Potts is a dead-on smart and saucy Girl Friday for her famous boss, one of the world's richest arms merchants and a well-known playboy. The chemistry with Downey is palpable. A bald-headed and bearded Jeff Bridges is fun to watch as mentor/nemesis Obadiah Stane. And Terrence Howard is pitch perfect as Stark's military contact/friend Jim Rhodes.

The back story unfolds well and keeps our attention as it carefully lays the groundwork for what is to come. The action sequences are exciting, well-produced, and well edited. And the writers didn't forget the humor. The summer blockbuster season couldn't have had a better opening act.

PG-13. 126 minutes. Jon Favreau - Director, Mark Fergus - Writer (screenplay), Hawk Ostby - Writer (screenplay), Art Marcum - Writer (screenplay), Matt Holloway - Writer (screenplay), Stan Lee - Writer (characters), Don Heck - Writer (characters), Larry Lieber - Writer (characters), Jack Kirby - Writer (characters), Avi Arad - Producer, Kevin Feige - Producer, Matthew Libatique - Cinematographer, Ramin Djawadi - Composer, J. Michael Riva - Production Designer, Dan Lebental - Editor. Distributed by Paramount Pictures.

Principal actors: Robert Downey Jr., Jeff Bridges, Gwyneth Paltrow, Terrence Howard, Shaun Toub, Leslie Bibb, Bill Smitrovich, and Nazanin Boniadi.

Made of Honor *

"Made of Honor" is a derivative and pale romantic comedy of the "My Best Friend's Wedding" ilk, except here it's the guy (a dreamily dimpled Patrick Dempsey instead of Julia Roberts), who realizes he loves his best friend just when she gets engaged. The plot is totally predictable, the characters are cardboard, and the laughs are few. There are, however, some stunning scenes of Scotland, where Tom's buddy Hannah (an earnest Michelle Monaghan) met her betrothed (an adequate Kevin McKidd) and goes to get married at his ancestral castle.

Since, as she says, she always expected to be the "best man" at his wedding, Hannah wants Tom to be her "Maid of Honor." The title puns on this role, but it's hard to figure out who in this mess is "made of honor." It's not Tom, who has a life of rules, not one of them honorable. It's not his dad, nicely played by Sydney Pollack, negotiating the pre-nup for his sixth marriage as his bride is en route to the church. It's not Hannah's best friend Melissa (a shrill Busy Philipps), who feels jilted for not being "the MOH" herself, who does her best to sabotage Tom's efforts.

But there is, as I mentioned, some gorgeous Scottish countryside, and some nice flavorings of Scottish games, fashions, and traditions. Director Paul Weiland here fails to make the necessary transition from his previous Mr. Bean oeuvre to the more complicated world of rom-com.

Rated PG-13. 101 minutes. Paul Weiland - Director, Adam Sztykiel - Writer (screenplay) (story), Deborah Kaplan - Writer (screenplay), Harry Elfont - Writer (screenplay), Neal H. Moritz - Producer, Tony Pierce-Roberts - Cinematographer, Rupert Gregson-Williams - Composer, Kalina Ivanov - Production Designer, Richard Marks - Editor. Distributed by Sony Pictures Entertainment.

Principal actors: Patrick Dempsey, Michelle Monaghan, Kevin McKidd, Kathleen Quinlan, and Sydney Pollack.