The Ghost Writer

There are certainly enough big names in the cast to make it worth the watch. More than that however is a twisty plot with plenty of unanswered questions. Smart directors let us come to our own conclusions and don't try to tell us everything. The much-in-the-news-recently Roman Polanski is a genius.

Wait, you say? How did Polanski direct this movie in Cape Cod and England when he could not leave Switzerland? Simple. German locations. Post production from a Swiss prison. How else?

The story itself is a delight for conspiracy theorists. More questions than answers, and very smart story telling. Ewan McGregor plays an unnamed ghost writer hired to complete the memoirs of and very Tony-Blair-like Pierce Brosnan. In fact, the many comparisons between the story and reality are very thinly veiled.

Olivia Williams plays the dutiful wife and Kim Cattrall plays the dutiful secretary. Of course sparks fly.

Fun cameos by James Belushi, Timothy Hutton, and Eli Wallach make this a very fun watch. The story is crisp and the pace is brisk. Pay attention.

Watch this with someone who will try and connect all the somewhat related dots.

Remember Me

Director Allen Coulter's work is probably familiar to all of us, but we just don't know his name. That is a shame. After working in TV since the late 80s he makes the great leap onto the big screen. And not for the first time, but, in my opinion, in his first significant production.

Robert Pattinson is no small commodity these days, and neither is Pierce Brosnan or Lena Olin. All three are wonderful, smart, evolutionary characters in this touching, if not difficult to watch story. I say difficult because we watch the main characters make really bad choices over and over again. But that is part of the evolution. That is a critical part of the story. Be patient.

Emile de Ravin of Lost fame holds her own very well against these big screen heavy-weights. He accent is gone and she almost seems like the native New Yorker she portrays. Her cop Dad is played brilliantly by Chris Cooper, who, in this story at least, is my favorite character. Daddy's of daughters almost always are my favs.

Three groups of people will most likely LOVE this movie. 1 - Fans of brooding pretty boys. 2 - Fans of New York City. 3 - People who realize whats going to happen once they hear the first President Bush on Television. No spoilers here.

Watch this with someone who is in one of the above categories.

Mamma Mia

If you loved the music of ABBA, or still do, you will most likely love this movie. If you are not familiar, you may not realize this music was written 20 years before the story was made up. For those of you who saw this on stage, but not the movie, you may like how the "sets" have changed. The story did not, nor did the songs.

Oh, and what a cast! Meryl Streep and Amanda Seyfried play mother and daughter. Stellan Skarsgård, Pierce Brosnan, and Colin Firth plays fathers. Christine Baranski and Julie Walters play Momma's best friends.

The scenes are spectacular, even if so many of the beach scenes were shot here in Orange County. For you who like to fantasize about the Greek islands, this movie has lots to offer.

Watch this movie with someone who knows ALL the words.

The Thomas Crown Affair (1999)

Steve McQueen and Faye Dunaway made magic in the 1968 version of this great story, and set the bar pretty high for any remakes. There are a few significant differences between that version and the 1999 remake. Other than being in color, and having a far better soundtrack, the 1999 version is much sexier. And, the more recent version is a complex, but very funny, art heist instead of the 1968 bank robbery.

Pierce Brosnan (Mrs. Doubtfire, The Mirror Has Two Faces, and The Matador) is as good, if not better here than in any of his Bond roles. His is smug, his smirk is perfect. He is charming, and he is funny.

Rene Russo (Lethal Weapon series, In the Line of Fire, and Tin Cup) is hot hot hot. I have always like Ms. Russo and I think this is her finest hour, so far. She is both venerable and vulnerable. Her cat and mouse dance with Brosnan is the stuff Hollywood dreams are made of. Who is chasing whom and to what end?

Denis Leary (The Sandlot, The Ref, and currently in TV's Rescue Me) is a very smart but very outsmarted New York cop. Except for his voice-over work in the Ice Age series, this is the last good film work he has turned in. Rescue Me has done just that for him.

Director John McTiernan usually does big budget action pictures like the Die Hard series, Hunt For Red October, and Last Action Hero. He also dabbles well in the sci-fi/fantasy realm with Predator and 13th Warrior. So his version of The Thomas Crown Affair is a major departure, but he plays it smartly without leaning too heavily on the features of his other work.

Watch this movie with plenty of popcorn and your fantasy for living for the high life fully intact.