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Academy Award-winning Tom Hanks turns in a hilariously original performance in THE LADYKILLERS, the laugh-out-loud comedy that explodes with outrageous wit and slapstick humor from the Coen Brothers. Underneath Professor G.H. Dorr's (Hanks) silver-tongued southern gentleman persona is a devious criminal who has assembled a motley gang of thieves to commit the heist of the century by tunneling through his churchgoing landlady's root cellar to a casino's vault of riches. But these cons are far from pros. As their scheme begins blowing up in their faces, their landlady smells a rat. And when she threatens to call the police, they figure they'll just bump her off. After all, how hard can that be? Wickedly funny from start to finish, it would be a crime to miss THE LADYKILLERS.

I anxiously anticipated this movie's release in theaters, but was unable, for whatever reason(s), to see it there. I was forced then, to wait for the DVD release. My time came last night to watch The Ladykillers. A very unique role for Hanks who appears to be journeying slightly from his stereotypical "good guy" roles. Combine his genius (yes, I'll be so bold) with the unique stylings of the Coen Brothers and you have got my attention.

The writing, as expected, was hilarious...at times. There were lulls in the story, though that happens often in Coen Bros' films. In my opinion Tom Hanks has only made one bad movie; this was not it (The Terminal). The Ladykillers seemed to follow a "Coen" path from start to finish, though understand this is not a bad thing. The "Coen" path you do not necessarily notice until the movie is over and then everything makes sense. Their stories always come full circle. It is always worth your time to see how their movies end. Still not convinced? Marlon Wayans is funny in The Ladykillers, who else but the Coen Brothers could make that happen?

Buy The Lady Killers $22.49 from Amazon.com

Cameron Crowe's first film since his Academy Award nominated hit Jerry Maguire captures a pivotol time in the history of rock and roll. Set in 1973, it chronicles the funny and often poignant coming of age of 15-year-old William (Patrick Fugit), an unabashed music fan who is inspired by the seminal bands of the time.

When his love of music lands him an assignment from Rolling Stone magazine to interview the up-and-coming band Stillwater--fronted by lead guitar Russell (Billy Crudup) and lead singer Jeff Bebe (Jason Lee)--William embarks on an eye-opening journey with the band, despite the objections of his protective morhter (Frances McDormmand). With the help of the lovely "band aid" Penny lane (Kate Hudson), William finds himself in a circle. But as he becomes less an observer and more a participant in the band's dynamics, the fledgling reporter loses the objectivity to tell his story honestly, and learns a life-changing lesson about the importance of family-the ones we inherit, and the ones we create.

Brilliantly written, Almost Famous is a feel good movie you can sink your teeth into. From the incredible soundtrack to the all-star cast, the movie is enjoyable from every perspective. If you are a movie watcher who likes to enjoy film as entertainment, but also as a form of art, you may enjoy the scene on the tour bus as Elton John's Tiny Dancer plays. Moments like that can be very powerful in a movie in which it is not necessarily expected. I am not generally a Philip Seymour Hoffman fan, but his role as mentor to young William was a great role. He summed up life towards the end of the movie, "The only true currency in this bankrupt world... is what you share with someone else when you're uncool."

Check out this movie. This is one of the good ones.

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Went to see Shark Tale this afternoon as a means of killing time between a wedding and its reception. I was not thrilled by Dreamworks' work on this one. There were some absolutely hilarious parts, but there were also too many slow moments to carry the movie. The kids in the theater seemed to love the movie, maybe my expectations were too high. I do doubt that was the case though as I went into it pretty indifferent as I couldn't tell if it looked good or not from the previews. Big names in the case doing the voice overs, though you will not even know it is them until they run the end credits. Jack Black, Angelina Jolie and a few others sounded nothing like they do normally. The movie was fun, there is no denying that fact, but I will not rush out to buy the DVD.

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So I am still pretty much on the fence about this movie as to whether to list it as a "Watch" or "Don't Watch." The premise of this movie is that Julianne Moore believes she had a son and that someone is trying to erase him from her memory. She fights whatever may be causing the lapsing of what she feels are memories of her boy. Very interesting plot, though I feel they could have done more with it. I am not happy with the execution of the story, but I cannot tell you that I was not scared. The movie was definitely scary, though more so in a startling fashion than in a suspenseful one. There was one part of the movie that is a guaranteed jump out of your seat moment. It happens as you can feel something is about to happen, though you are not quite positive as to what, and then that something happens. It is so rare to find a good scary movie, they are so hard to pull off. Worth seeing once, though you will not be in any rush to see it a second time.

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