Transsiberian

Rating: R

Movie Release Date: July 18, 2008

DVD Release Date: November 4, 2008

Plot 411: An American couple gets more than beautiful scenery when they take the train from China to Russia.

Review: After volunteering to help children in China with their church, Roy (Woody Harrelson) and Jessie (Emily Mortimer) jump on the transsiberian train enroute to Moscow. This is an adventure that Roy hopes to give Jessie because they're having some marital issues and need some time away. Plus, he just loves trains. On the train, they meet a curious couple - Carlos (Eduardo Noriega) and Abby (Kate Mara). Jessie immediately gets a weird vibe from Carlos but thinks it's just his overtly flirtatious attitude. As they continue on their six-day travels, Roy goes missing and it seems as though Carlos might be the reason. This movie treated us to some gorgeous scenery of the snowy countrysides, serene mountains and barren plains. This isolation also added to the claustrophobia of keeping to such tight sleeping quarters and never being able to get away from people. This increased the suspense in this otherwise slow burn of a movie. Even when Ben Kingsley appears, the tempo doesn't pick up. It just quietly creeps along. It gives you time to wonder what you'd do in a similar situation.

Watch It: Because Ben Kingsley is great, as always.

Skip It: Because Woody Harrelson is completely annoying and embodies the reason why other countries despise Americans.

Lovely & Amazing

Rating: R

Movie Release Date: August 31, 2001

DVD Release Date: November 26, 2002

Plot 411: Life lived in a family dominated by women and all of their insecurities.

Review: I really enjoyed this quirky indie flick about the lives of a mother and her daughters. Everything was based in reality and nothing was sugar coated. Life is lived one day at a time and you take the ups and downs as they come. This movie came across as very genuine and honest. There were no easy answers or solutions to the issues that confront the characters. Brenda Blethyn plays Jane, the matriarch of a family of daughters who decides to get lypo done. During this time, she asks her daughters, Michelle (Catherine Keener) and Elizabeth (Emily Mortimer), to look after her youngest, Annie (Raven Goodwin). Annie is a black girl who Jane adopted, and she struggles with ideas of beauty. Michelle is a artist who canot sell any of her crafts and is unhappily married to man that's cheating on her. Elizabeth is an insecure actress constantly questioning her self worth. All the characters are threatened by their own personal demons, and the film comments on the fact that these insecurites are passed from one generation to the next despite all the love that the family has for one another. Also in this film are Jake Gyllenhaal and Dermot Mulroney.

Watch It: For the realistic portrayal of the absurdity that is life. People are really messed up.

Skip It: Because it's one of those movies that doesn't really have a beginning, middle or end. You walk away without a resolution because life can't just be wrapped up in 90 minutes.

Paris, je t'aime

Rating: R

Movie Release Date: June 21, 2006 (France) / May 4, 2007 (USA)

DVD Release Date: November 13, 2007

Plot 411: The city of love serves as the backdrop of 18 short films about love.

Review: This film was a vignette about love, in all of its forms. Each story covered a different type of love, featured different groups in society and was the vision of different directors. The shorts provided a brief glimpse into people's lives, and the last movie about an American tourist's first visit to Paris wraps up the entire film quite nicely (albeit in very bad American-accented French). I liked how so many different versions of love could be incorporated into this project: young love, old love, new love, mother-son, father-daughter, lost love, found love, etc. Some of my favorite shorts are about a mime family, a couple who resorts to prostitutes to liven up their marriage and a mother who sings a Spanish lullaby to a child that is not her own. In a way, it's similar to Love Actually, but the audience isn't given as much time with all the characters. Just when you start liking them, their story is over and we're moving on to the next short. Some of the topics are humorous while others are simply heartbreaking. However, all of the shorts depict real situations that we all may face in life, and this is what makes the film perfect. Some of the actors in these films are Juliette Binoche, Willem Dafoe, Nick Nolte, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Elijah Wood, Emily Mortimer, Rufus Sewell, Natalie Portman, Gena Rowlands and Gerard Depardieu.

Watch It: If you're a fan of indie movies because each short film felt like an artistic endeavor.

Skip It: If you like to have a definite resolution at the end of your movies. Many of these will leave you hanging or make you want to see more.

Shutter Island

Rating: R

Movie Release Date: February 19, 2010

DVD Release Date: TBD

Plot 411: Two U.S. marshals go to Shutter Island, a facility that houses the criminally insane, to investigate a missing patient.

Review: Teddy Daniels (Leonardo DiCaprio) and his partner Chuck (Mark Ruffalo) are assigned to a case involving a missing woman who is believed to have escaped the mental ward. Dr. Crawley (Ben Kingsley) is the liaison at the island and tries to help them by giving them access to the buildings, grounds and patients. The facility is heavily guarded by armed officers as only the extremely violent or crazy people get sent to the island. The film uses dreams, hallucinations and visions to jump between the past and the present, creating doubt in the audience's mind as to what is real and what isn't. There have been movies like this in the past, but I think this one was carried out very well. While the twist is nothing new and almost too easy to figure out, I still felt that the film was able to take you on a ride. I wish that Ruffalo had a bigger, better part. However, he probably did the best that he could do with what he was given. All the juicy parts were given to DiCaprio, and I wouldn't be surprised if he was nominated for some awards. Also in this film are Max von Sydow, Patricia Clarkson, Michelle Williams, Emily Mortimer, Jackie Earle Haley and Elias Koteas.

Watch It: For a throwback to film noir that keeps you at the edge of your seat.

Skip It: If an intense Leo is a turn off. He's pretty much the focus of the show and you can't escape him or his frown lines.