The Cold War may be over, but that doesn’t mean it can’t still be milked for laughs. Get Smart, the sassy film version of the Mel Brooks/Buck Henry-created ’60s TV satire, brings plenty of elements of the original series and spins it freshly into the new world of bad guys in the 21st century, pretty much without losing a beat. Steve Carell is perfectly cast as the bumbling Maxwell Smart–but in a slick improvement on the TV show, Smart isn’t really hapless–though he has a bit of a self-esteem problem (all around his apartment are sticky notes with exhortations like “You can DO it!”). Carell’s Maxwell Smart is a sharp techie researcher at the uber-secret crime-battling agency, CONTROL, who’s just a little out of his element out in the field. As his data-crunching sidekick Bruce (Masi Oka of Heroes) says, “We’re the ones guarding democracy!”, aghast that Max would want to be an agent.

But Max longs for the action enjoyed by the likes of Agent 23 (a godlike Dwayne Johnson), with glamorous deployments around the world. When he finally gets his dream assignment–as the newly minted Agent 86–he’s paired up with the slick and experienced Agent 99 (Anne Hathaway), who provides great lines, not to mention some interesting chemistry, while she continually saves Max from harm’s way. The cast is terrific, with memorable appearances by Alan Arkin as the Chief, Terrence Stamp as the head of the uber-evil KAOS, and Bill Murray as a (literally) put-out-to-pasture agent whose spy post is inside a tree (”really great, old-school stuff” he calls his assignment). And there’s plenty of action, explosions, and creative shootouts with the bad guys (highlight: a freefall from a plane, with two people and just two parachutes). But it’s Carell and his combination of insecure yearning and deadpan delivery that make Get Smart as, well, smart as it is. When Max learns he’s finally been promoted to agent, he slips into the Cone of Silence–which unfortunately is malfunctioning. “I’m so happy! I’m so happy!” he yells, as his colleagues sit nearby hearing the whole thing. Discovering that, he purses his lips and says, “Well, that’s a sucker-punch to the gonads.” Sorry about that

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In a futuristic world, Michelle lives everyday battling with DNA Hackers who use their skills to hack into people’s bodies and kill them. She is an assassin, battling her past demons and trying to keep her younger and extroverted brother, Jackie, out of trouble. When Jackie gets involved in a petty crime of robbery, he propels himself into the world of DNA Hackers, Shylocks (Loan Sharks) and Gang Fights. Wanting the respect that the world has never given to him only makes it harder for Jackie to peel himself away from the underground trades, against the hopes of his sister, Michelle. Michelle always wanted to leave the city and lead a calm and quiet lifestyle. As emotions and gunfire get into the way, Michelle and Jackie soon find themselves battling between their lives and finding out that in an immoral world, love can still survive; and that blood is thicker than water

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Leslie (Gillian Jacobs), struggles with a hand to mouth existence on the streets of San Diego with only her childhood friend Donnie (Evan Ross) to look after her, both of them trying to cope with the trauma of having been abducted and held captive by two men nine years earlier. As an eight-year-old girl, Leslie (Ryan Simpkins) was abducted through trickery by an older man Alex (Tom Arnold), and his young accomplice Frank (Kevin Zegers). Leslie was held captive in their house along with an eight-year-old boy named Donnie, who believed his mentally unstable mother, sold him to Alex. The children create a bond with each other managing to escape into a fantasy world they create in their bedroom.

Years later Leslie and Donnie, now seventeen years old, are living as street-kids and struggling to cope with what they suffered through, having been affected by the experience differently. Donnie’s feelings for Leslie are those of any teenager in love, however Leslie’s perception of love has been severely mutated through her relationship with Alex and her instinct is to run from Donnie. Can she not only survive this horrific experience, but be set free from it’s terrible shackles?

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Gangs of New York may achieve greatness with the passage of time. Mixed reviews were inevitable for a production this grand (and this troubled behind the scenes), but it’s as distinguished as any of director Martin Scorsese’s more celebrated New York stories. From its astonishing 1846 prologue to the city’s infernal draft riots of 1863, the film aspires to erase the decorum of textbooks and chronicle 19th-century New York as a cauldron of street warfare. The hostility is embodied in a tale of primal vengeance between Irish American son Amsterdam Vallon (Leonardo DiCaprio) and his father’s ruthless killer and “Nativist” gang leader Bill “the Butcher” Cutting (Daniel Day-Lewis, brutally inspired), so named for his lethal talent with knives. Vallon’s vengeance is only marginally compelling; DiCaprio is arguably miscast, and Cameron Diaz (as Vallon’s pickpocket lover) is adrift in a film with little use for women. Despite these weaknesses, Scorsese’s mastery blossoms in his expert melding of personal and political trajectories; this is American history written in blood, unflinching, authentic, and utterly spectacular.

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Description:
Andrew is a struggling 20-something actor who floats through life in a lithium-induced haze. When he returns to new jersey for his mothers funeral without his lithium & the drugs begin to leave his system andrew begins to feel things for the 1st time in years. Its a scary prospect for the young man. Studio: Tcfhe Release Date: 04/15/2008 Starring: Zach Braff Natalie Portman Run time: 103 minutes Rating: R

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Description:
The events that overwhelm a middle-aged seemingly happily married couple. The arrogant bourgeois M. Hervey descends from a train into the teeming bustle of the city. While on his way home he reflects on the sturdiness of his life: the success he has made of it and the fortress of security he has built around himself. It is not long before his self-satisfaction is rudely shattered when he discovers a letter from his wife Gabrielle waiting for him on his sideboard. The contents of the message will crumble that security and plunge him into newfound feelings of vulnerability abandonment and betrayal. Husband and wife find themselves engaged in a parry-and-thrust of emotions that change mid-sentence and stretch their ability to function and live in the same house.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: DRAMA Rating: NR

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Michael Haneke is a modern master, which his spellbinding films Cache and The Piano Teacher proved to an international audience. When it came time for a Hollywood remake of his ultra-disturbing 1997 picture Funny Games, who better than Haneke himself to helm the new version? And indeed, the second Funny Games bears the impeccable sense of control and technique that the Austrian version had: it is a horrifyingly precise account of a family terrorized by two psychopathic young thugs at a vacation home. For anyone who’s already seen the ‘97 film, this new one–a nearly shot-by-shot transcription of the original–will seem superfluous, no matter how impressive the performances of Naomi Watts and Tim Roth are. (Michael Pitt and Brady Corbet are suitably creepy as their menacers, too.) For newbies, the movie might be as infuriating and thought-provoking as Haneke intends it to be. That’s because Funny Games is an intellectual game itself, a direct rebuke to the audience that gobbles up gratuitous violence and cynical manipulation. Haneke sets up our expectations, and then refuses to provide the conventional catharsis… or the conventional anything. All of this was pretty bracing in the first go-round, but feels like gamesmanship in the remake. Even if you dig what Haneke’s up to, this is a brutal movie-watching experience.

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The International Trailer for From Paris With Love. starring John Travolta and Jonathan Rhys Meyers. From Paris With Love follows a young embassy worker and an American secret agent who cross paths while working on a high-risk mission in Paris.

Though the “inspirational teacher” theme may feel done to death, Freedom Writers succeeds because it emphasizes the students as much as the teacher. Erin Gruwell (Hilary Swank, Million Dollar Baby, Boys Don’t Cry) comes to a southern California high school bubbling over with naive optimism, but quickly discovers that her unruly classroom isn’t easily won over by her good intentions. After a few floundering attempts to connect with her students, Gruwell gives them the assignment of keeping journals about their own lives–an assignment that the class bites into with relish, which eventually bonds them together and pushes racial rivalries aside. This plotline has been made before, sometimes well, sometimes poorly; Freedom Writers, by drawing heavily from the published journals of the students–and thanks to a (mostly) unheroic script, direction that emphasizes individual characters over stereotypes, and rigorous performances from the whole cast–makes the story seem fresh and genuine. Swank does solid work, but the standouts are April L. Hernandez as a girl whose gang wants her to lie and send an innocent boy to jail and Imelda Staunton (Vera Drake) as a teacher who resents Gruwell’s offbeat success. Also featuring Patrick Dempsey (Grey’s Anatomy), Scott Glenn (The Right Stuff), and a plethora of strong young actors.

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