I didn’t exactly go into this movie with high hopes.
X-MEN: THE LAST STAND

The team that brought us the first two entries of the X-Men franchise are bringing us Superman Returns. Now instead of waiting that extra time to let that team deliver the third entry into the franchise, the powers that be decide to rush the vehicle in the hands of director Brett Ratner (Rush Hour, Red Dragon). Ladies and gentlemen, I give you X-Men: The Last Stand..
— Review by MAURICE BROADDUS

This wonderful cast brings the comic to life and while some who love the comic won’t be as thrilled
X-MEN: THE LAST STAND

Okay, right from the outset for those that wonder, this is not the best of the X-Men series, I still hold that honor out for X-Men II, but, it is still a very good movie, I believe better than the first.
— Review by MIKE FURCHES

Many things about this film impressed me, but I walked away mostly impacted by Jean Grey.
X-MEN: THE LAST STAND

Sitting comfortably in my seat of expectation, I surmised that the primary forces for good and evil would be as clearly defined as previous X-Men films. The “Last Stand” would simply be the final battle of wit and will between Xavier and Magneto. From that comfort zone, the phoenix, Jean Grey (Famke Janssen), arose from the flames of predictability and hung her allegiance in the balances.
— Review by MELINDA LEDMAN

THE BREAK UP
Director: Peyton Reed.
Stars: Jennifer Aniston, Vince Vaughn

After Brooke (Aniston) calls it quits with her boyfriend Gary (Vaughn), neither person is willing to move out of the condo they share. Taking the advice of their repsective friends and confidants (and a few total strangers), they both engage in mental warfare designed to force the other person to flee the premises -- until they both realize they might be fighting to keep their relationship alive.

THE OMEN
Director: John Moore
Stars: Liev Schreiber, Julia Stiles

An American government official (Schreiber) and his wife (Stiles) come to realize that their adopted son may just be the devil - literally.

PEACEFUL WARRIOR
Director: Victor Salva
Stars: Scott Mechlowicz, Nick Nolte, Amy Smart

Collegiate gymnast Dan Millman (Mechlowicz) strikes up a friendship with Socrates (Nolte), an older man who becomes the athlete's mentor and opens his mind to a new way of living and thinking.

GLOBAL WARMING WARNING
AN INCONVENIENT TRUTH

The film weaves the science of global warming with Al Gore's personal history and longtime commitment to communicating the need to reverse the effects of global climate change.

— VIDEO REVIEW by David Bruce

CONSEQUENCES OF REPRESSION
SEE NO EVIL

Sentenced to community service, a group of teens are dispatched to fix up a ramshackle hotel. Little do they know the hotel is home to a manical killer who looks to murder them one by one.
— VIDEO REVIEW by David Bruce

This movie totally took me by surprise.
OVER THE HEDGE

This movie was so incredibly funny. Let me say this again This Movie was FUNNY. This review is probably coming off as scattered and un organized because every time I try to think of something to write about, I start laughing at some of the scenes in this movie. Not many movies make you laugh a day later.
— VIDEO REVIEW by David Bruce

The Greatest Sacrifice Will Be Made
X-MEN: THE LAST STAND

Most of the characters yearn for peace and community and strive for that goal, but it always seems out of reach. There is a hopelessness that pervades X-Men: The Last Stand and the only thing that brings any peace is a final, desperate act of true love and sacrifice.
— Review by JAMES HARLEMAN

Wow! It delivers!
X-MEN: THE LAST STAND

If you’ve been disappointed with this years summer “event” movies so far (Poseidon sank, Da Vinci was a snooze, and although M:i:III was solid, it wasn’t quite “big” enough), X-Men: The Last Stand definitely doesn’t disappoint.
— Review by YO

This movie totally took me by surprise.
OVER THE HEDGE

This movie was so incredibly funny. Let me say this again This Movie was FUNNY. This review is probably coming off as scattered and un organized because every time I try to think of something to write about, I start laughing at some of the scenes in this movie. Not many movies make you laugh a day later.
— Review by MARCUS PITTMAN

To start with, I was disappointed.
THE DA VINCI CODE

To start with, I was disappointed. Not that the Da Vinci Code wasn’t a “good” movie, more so that it wasn’t a “great” movie. With all the hype I had expected something more than I got. Maybe that was the problem -- all the hype had built up my expectations beyond what the movie delivered.
— Review by PAPABEAR

What separates you from opportunity?
OVER THE HEDGE

What are you hungry for? What will fill that longing in your belly? Food? Thrills? Comfort? Or is it something more? RJ the Raccoon discovers the answers to all these questions in the new DreamWorks computer animated comedy OVER THE HEDGE.
— Review by MATT KINNE

Flash PowerPoint Review
THE DA VINCI CODE
WISDOM'S SEARCH FOR TURTH

Downloadable PowerPoint presentation with film clips of the Da Vinci Code and the Secret Wisdom contained in the Bible

— Visual review by David Bruce

After all the hype and controversy,
THE DA VINCI CODE

I find it ironic that the one thing no one anticipated from this movie is that it would turn out to be so bad. Of course, how could it? It has such a high caliber of talent; Oscar winners both behind the camera and on the screen. There’s even an Oscar in the closet of the screenwriter, so surely this would be the summer event movie of the year, right? Well...not so much...
— Review by YO

Well, Jesus Christ had a daughter.
The Church is full of liars.
THE DA VINCI CODE

Christianity is actually based upon pagan religions. Jesus died 'for the betterment of humanity.' So, what question is left unanswered. Perhaps this one: What is the worst part of The Da Vinci Code? There are several possibilities, so let me sift through some of them for you.
— Review by TIM SPANSBURG

41 EXPERT ESSAYS ON
THE DA VINCI CODE

Erwin Raphael McManus, Thomas S. Fortson, Jr, Larry Poland, Lee Strobel,Phil Cooke, Robert Johnston, Dorothy Kelley Patterson, Gordon P. Robertson, William D. Romanowski, Frederica Mathewes-Green, Vishal Mangalwadi, Chuck Colson, Terry Mattingly, Angela Elwell Hunt, Erwin W. Lutzer, Gloria Gaither, Mark Miravalle, Rev. François Rossier, S.M., Sister Rose Pacatte, Tony Campolo, John L. Allen, Monsignor Francis J. Maniscalco, Alan Schreck, Darrell L. Bock, Patrick Henry Reardon, Mark D. Roberts, Fr. Joseph Huneycutt, Mark Mittelberg, Ben Witherington III, Beverly Roberts Gaventa, Bryan Litfin, Charles C. Ryrie, Lisa DeBoer, Susanna Bede Caroselli, Hugh Hewitt, Thomas P. Rausch, Douglas E. Cowan, Craig Detweiler, George Barna, Darrell L. Bock, and Richard J. Mouw.

The power of
THE DA VINCI CODE
lies not on secular ears, but on Christian’s action.

In the theater I was tempted to snicker out loud and moan and groan at the “Dejesusfying” parts. I wanted badly to stand up to the screen and yell blasphemy and throw the over priced popcorn at Leigh Teabing. But doing that wouldn’t help anything. In fact it would make the negative image of Christianity the movie tries to present perfectly accurate.
— Review by MARCUS PITTMAN

Flaws aside, it's still about identity.
THE DA VINCI CODE

We all struggle with or against faith (one way or another) and what we should do as a result—and Sophie, at least, matures into her role as a descendent of Jesus Christ. She is a stark contrast to Silas, who seeks redemption through self-flagellation, while never coming to a knowledge of the truth.
— Review by MIKE GUNN

Single-minded pursuit of personal artistic vision.
DRAWING RESTRAINT 9

There are some nice visual touches in Drawing Restraint 9; but director Matthew Barney overdoes much of what he does well and takes up far too much screen time to do the rest. This movie could have made its statements in easily a third of the screen time. But Barney knows that, I think.
— Review by GREG WRIGHT

As we all know, luck is a communicable disease...
JUST MY LUCK

Follows always-lucky Ashley Albright (Lohan) as she climbs higher and higher into the corporate world, with no effort at all. At the same time, Jake Hardin (Chris Pine) is just trying to climb out of his janitorial job with all the effort he can muster, but to no avail. Luck changes, however, when they meet at a masquerade ball and, for no other reason than to advance the plot, kiss 10 seconds after meeting one other...
— Review by MARK STOKES

SEE NO EVIL
Director: Gregory Dark.
Stars: Glen Jacobs.

Sentenced to community service, a group of teens are dispatched to fix up a ramshackle hotel. Little do they know the hotel is home to a manical killer who looks to murder them one by one.

OVER THE HEDGE
Director: Tim Johnson Karey Kirkpatrick.
Stars: Bruce Willis, Garry Shandling, Gene Wilder.

A mischievous racoon and his sensitive best-buddy turtle along with other forest creatures try to resist the evils and temptations of encroaching suburbia.

Poseidon is not a good movie.
In fact, it is a pretty dismal one.
POSEIDON

The lead actors try their noblest to generate life from their limp characters, but even that cannot raise this ship above water. The special effects enter on cue, do their damage, and disappear without a hint of originality or artistic flair. This movie is no The Day After Tomorrow…and what does THAT say? The Poseidon Adventure pulled this story off in a vastly superior way back in 1972.
— Review by ED TRAVIS

It surprised me with its candor
GOAL!

Several themes permeate this film, some predictable, some unlikely and truly surprising. To be honest, I expected a b-rated film that cheated us out of character and plot development... However, Goal! surprised me with its candor about the nature of life and success. Three primary themes of the film explore traditionally “un-American” truths...
— Review by Melinda Ledman

POSEIDON

Video Review
by David Bruce

POSEIDON
Director: Shinji Aramaki Wolfgang Petersen. Stars: Richard Dreyfuss, Kurt Russell, Emmy Rossum

After a tidal wave causes a luxury ocean liner to capsize, a handful of survivors endeavor to find a way to the water's surface.

JUST MY LUCK
Director: Donald Petrie. Stars: Lindsay Lohan, Chris Pine.

Sexy Manhattanite Ashley (Lindsay Lohan) is known to many as the luckiest woman around. After a chance encounter with a down-and-out young man (Chris Pine), however, she realizes that she's swapped her fortune for his.

GOAL!
Director: Danny Cannon. Stars: Kuno Becker, Alessandro Nivola, Anna Friel.

An incredible sequence of events finds Santiago (Becker), a Los Angeleno with a lifelong dream to play professional soccer, granted a tryout with Newcastle United.

Well, the official summer blockbuster movie season has begun.
Mission: Impossible III

While it’s been a long time since MI:2, it’s only a short time for our intrepid hero, Ethan Hunt (the bad press belabored Tom Cruise) and the stakes of the spy game movie have been raised in this post-24, post-Mr. & Mrs. Smith, and post-Bourne Identity/Supremacy world. This director’s franchise was in need of reinventing itself after the convoluted plot of the first (Brian DePalma) and the too reminiscent of a James Bond feel of the second (John Woo) - so in the rare Hollywood brilliant move, Cruise taps J.J. Abrams (Lost) to helm the reinvention.
— Review by MAURICE BROADDUS

MI3 is a Big-Expensive-Loud-Summer-Hollywood-Explosionfest.
Mission: Impossible III

MI3 is a Big-Expensive-Loud-Summer-Hollywood-Explosionfest.
There is no getting around that. It's the Summer, Tom Cruise is in it, and it's Mission Impossible. Everything about this movie is explosive and loud. But underneath all the wonderful bangs and booms, this movie actually has what I didnt go there to see nor expect, A wonderfully well written plot!
— Review by MARCUS PITTMAN

The movie is filled with wonderful performances.
INSIDE MAN

The movie is filled with wonderful performances. Frazier’s half sleuth/half street cop is pitted against Clive Owen’s mostly masked “villain,” Dalton Russell - bank robber-cum-father confessor - in a cat and mouse game of wits. Jodie Foster has a ball playing Madeline White, a mysterious power broker in need of having her own movie.
— Review by MAURICE BROADDUS

Oh...the good ole days.
RV

Oh...the good ole days. The days with dinner at 6 o'clock sharp, where kids' biggest problems consisted of which girl to ask to a dance or how to talk your teacher into no homework for the weekend. The days when moms wore pink dresses, dads played catch with their kids, and gas was like 25 cents a gallon. Compare that with today, and it seems that as cheesy as I think the 50's culture might have been, there is something missing...
— Review by TIM SPANBURG

This film was amazing.
AN AMERICAN HAUNTING

Perhaps most movies that deal with demon possession or ghosts cannot escape the fact that they are going to have a religious aspect to them, and An American Haunting is no different. In an initial attempt to rid their home of this spirit, the Bells invite their friend, Rev. James Johnston (Matthew Marsh), to try and help cast away this un-holy presence. First, he leads a séance and orders the spirit to leave “in the name of Jesus Christ.” At first, it seems to have worked until...
— Review by BRIAN DEDMON

What would the TV show Alias look like with a bigger budget, longer running time, and a male lead? The answer:
Mission: Impossible III

In fact, if you take Alias and add in a generous helping of True Lies, you pretty much know all you need about the latest outing for IMF agent Ethan Hunt and his team. Now this isn’t to say that M:I:III isn’t fun; it is, in fact, quite fun. However, after you’ve seen the film, you may be hard pressed to remember the difference between the movie and last week's adventure with Sydney Bristow.
— Review by YO

As bad as the movie is, there are ample questions about evil and good to make discussing it worthwhile.
AN AMERICAN HAUNTING

Growing up in Johnson City, Tennessee, I was rooted in the Americana storytelling tradition: Jonesboro, Tennessee’s oldest town and neighbor to Johnson City, is the home of the International Storytelling Festival. So I had heard the stories of the Bell Witch for years and was excited to hear about An American Haunting and its excellent cast.
— Review by MIKE FURCHES

An important movie to see, but very difficult to watch.
UNITED 93

Even though the tragic events of 9/11 have been seared into my heart and mind, this movie served, albeit painfully, to provide me with an inside glimpse of the suffering and hurt that so many people experienced on this fateful day.
— Review by JIM DAVIS

It’s like Rocky for the mind!
AKEELAH AND THE BEE

the story of a trip to the National Spelling Bee by a girl from south-central Los Angeles, accurately captures the feel of spelling bee competitions as it tells an inspiring and uplifting personal story. The National Spelling Bee has been the subject of films before, most notably 2002’s independent documentary, Spellbound. What sets Akeelah and the Bee apart is that it’s like Rocky for the mind.
— Review by TOM PRICE

AN AMERICAN HAUNTING
Director: Courtney Solomon. Stars: Donald Sutherland, Sissy Spacek, Rachel Hurd-Wood.

Between the years 1818-1820, the Bell Family of Red River, Tennessee was visited by an unknown presence that haunted the family and eventually ended up causing the death of one its members.

Old Habits Die Hard
LA MUJER DE MI HERMANO

Ignacio has the money, the looks, even the permission in his culture to discard his unfaithful wife. He chooses not to. Because he has finally come clean with who he really is, he is able to sacrifice his needs for the greater good of someone else.
— Review by MICHAEL SMITH

The Promise of a Savior
THE PROMISE

A loveless life has left Princess Qingcheng jaded and empty. Without love, none of the things she has truly satisfy. Her expensive clothes, rich food, wealth, and fame are meaningless. The film poignantly contrasts the empty love of wealth and goods with the true love found in relationship and loving service.
— Review by JAMES HARLEMAN

An Interview with Chen Kaige
On Man, Myth, Destiny, and The Promise

I'm sort of a well-educated person, but the film is for the mass audiences, so how can I build a bridge between myself and the public to really let people understand what I'm trying to say? I think this is always a question mark every time that I start a film.
— Interview by JAMES HARLEMAN

Hoot is a Hoot!
HOOT

Many of us are protective of our families and friends, believing that controlling our immediate environment is all that matters in this world. But there is a big beautiful world out there that needs protection. This film makes a penetrating statement: that there is a need to consider the downside of "progress." How many more condos and hotels do we need on the beaches of Florida?
— Review by MICHAEL SMITH

Not Just Feathers!
HOOT

The message, plain and simple, is that everyone, no matter what size or age or species, has the right to have a place on this earth. Everyone and everything in all creation has a purpose and is important to the good of the whole. Something or someone destroyed sends out a ripple that affects much more than the moment in time when the destruction occurred.
— Review by KATHY BLEDSOE

A Talk with the Director and Stars of Hoot.
A Hoot of a Press Tour

Every school has a guy like Wil Shriner, a really smart kid that is a cut-up and still runs circles around the rest of the students mentally. But he's also very approachable. We are at this meeting to talk about his new movie, but one thing leads to another, and we end up in a share-your-childhood kind of a conversation.
— Feature Article by MICHAEL SMITH