Friday means new movies. Was the highlight of your week the new episodes of Sex and the City? If so, the movie comes out today. But if you are an avid fan, you don’t need me tell you about the release.

If you feel more like a horror based on true events, The Strangers may be for you. So grab your car keys and make your way to the theater.

Your local listings may differ.

Two down and out friends think the answer to their money troubles is robbing a church. Sounds like a great plan.

The storyline is a little transparent. The vibe is a little campy. The acting is a little predictable. But the movie has some heart and is not painful to sit through.

Ice Cube stays with his string of fatherly roles to play a dad struggling raise his son. He comes at this role with a slightly different angle. I have to admit, I love watching one of the front men of the hard hitting rap group NWA. The man goes from rapping ‘F*ck the Police’ to family friendly movies. Great stuff.

Tracey Morgan shows us he can play the comedian out of left field. The man has really created a niche for himself. But it is fun watching Morgan being his silly self.

The real highlight in First Sunday is Kat Williams. He owned the stage as a stand-up comedian and steal the spotlight as an actor. Williams has the potential to transition from gifted comedian to entertaining actor. I hope he will have the opportunity to broaden his horizons as an actor in the future.

First Sunday is not the DVD release I mark on my calendar, but it is a good solution when you crave a laid back comedy with some heart.

It’s been almost twenty years we have waited for the next installment of the Indiana Jones movies. Let’s hope this one is not a let down.

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull

Your local listings may differ.

It is a good idea. Brothers knock over a mom and pop jewelry store. No guns. Insurance covers the loss. Sounds simple.

One problem caused another and soon the movie is an avalanche of chaos. There are a good number of plot twists to keep the audience interested.

Philip Seymour Hoffman gives it his all in the movie. He plays a conniving executive who can manipulate his brother into a bad situation. From the eccentric writer in Capote to a fallen actor in Along Came Polly, Hoffman proves he is a chameleon.

Ethan Hawk who plays opposite Hoffman is not half the actor Hoffman is. But Hawk is reliable. Hawk does not have range, but he is capable of one character. He does a pretty good job at the one face he shows you.

Before the Devil Knows Your Dead, seems to have some good ingredients: a few plot twists, some reasonable acting, and plenty of full frontal thanks to Marisa Tomei. It is not the best movie to pick up, but there are worse choices on the shelf.

He has the charisma to play the leading man in any script he wants. He has the power to make most any movie into box office gold. Keanu Reeves has enough credit to sell the tickets to any movie by simply attaching his name to the project.

Beyond the list of movies he can claim, or the millions he has earned, Keanu Reeves is a bad actor. Since his debut in Parenthood or Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure, Reeves has done little to progress as an actor. He gives the pinnacle aspect of his character in Point Break. From that movie on, he is exactly the same character in all his later movies.

Speed, Johnny Mnemonic, The Matrix, Constantine, The Replacements, the list goes on. Reeves give you different shades of the same guy he regurgitates over and over. Reeves has had the opportunity to widen his horizons with so many different scripts. But no, he is not capable of even trying.

Reeves does not attempt to change his speech, mannerisms, or walk for different roles. He has found a profitable formula and refuses to stray from the path.

At least he is dependable. You can walk into a theater with confidence because you know exactly what he will give you on screen. He is the semi-spaced out surfer dude the gives ‘whoa’ new meaning.

The insomniac’s nightmare personified. With out sleep, you feel like a zombie. But with a strange disease on the prowl, will sleep actually make you a zombie? Are zombies all that bad if they can finally bring peace to the human race?

Invasion is the sleek adaptation of the classic, Invasion of Body Snatchers. Invasion of the Body Snatchers was good enough for later audiences to enjoy. That is why it survived B-grade horror movie obscurity. Invasion has a real idea behind the plot.

Invasion proposes a good question to the protagonist Nicole Kidman. The world wages wars with numerous deaths for what purpose? If you loose your emotion or desire; are you still human? Does the human race really crave turmoil and destruction? Invasion hints at these ideas with a modern and sophisticated view of personality.

Invasion is a good adaptation of the original movie because it breaths life into an old idea. Invasion gives the audience enough science to make the idea believable. Invasion revised the original in theory and science, but preserved the theme. That is my definition of a good remake.

While you may just pick Invasion as a semi worth-while answer to the Saturday night rental question, if offers the horror/drama you fix may be craving. Hey, at least Invasion is a better remake compared to what they could have done with the Creature from the Black Lagoon.

Stanley Kubrick shows he is a photographer first and foremost. He shows you amazing scenes throughout the movie. The audience sees the desert landscape with all its harsh drab hues. But Kubrick also shows the deserts beauty at sunset. Later Kubrick shows the breathtaking views of outer space.

Kubrick proves he has mastered art direction in the movie. 2001 uses a fish eye lens to make the audience see through the red glaring eye of H.A.L., the spaceship’s supercomputer. He makes an actress look as if she was walking up a wall and on the ceiling with a rotating room and fixed camera.

Great effect with different tricks, Kubrick films objects floating in the air to make zero gravity in space more plausible. Films astronaut running inside a cylindrical space ship with a moving camera. That shot is revolutionary. These scenes are a joy to watch because Kubrick filmed before computer animation was even a dream. He was forced to be creative to capture these images.

The soundtrack is bittersweet. The film uses classical music pieces during pivotal plot points. Some of these pieces work well. 2001 was the defining movie to use Johann Strauss “The Blue Danube” to describe beauty and perfection. It was also the movie to associate Richard Strauss “Thus Spoke Zarathustra” with epiphanies. However, some of the pieces involve a choir chanting. This music is not as pleasing to the ear. The sound is unsettling and is used to foreshadow darker moment to come. But the music misses the target and is only annoying.

The movie used the overbearing breathing sound in excess. Suddenly, the loud sound stops, leaving the audience in silence during a character’s death. This is a great effect and a good example of thinking outside the box.

Beyond the images and sound, it is easy to get lost toward the end of the movie. Some of the images at the end of the movie look more a like a drunk film student exploring the negative imaging on the camera. But Kubrick was trying his best to express some complicated thoughts the original novel could easily explain with narrative. Kubrick was doing his best showing, not telling, the audience the story. Unfortunately, those ideas are a little too illusive, even for Kubrick.

If you are able to sit through a lot of that stuff called plot, 2001 is a great movie. If gives power behind the paranoid fear of what the future holds for evolution and artificial intelligence. 2001 deserves its spot on the American Film Institutes Top 100 Films.

Failsafe is the unfunny version of Dr. Strangelove. The movie Failsafe was based on the book of the same name. The novel Failsafe was published in 1962. Dr. Strangelove was based on the book Red Alert. The novel Red Alert was published in 1958. It is safe to say Dr. Strangelove beat Failsafe to the punch.

Both Failsafe and Dr. Strangelove involve SAC bombers mistakenly attacking Russia and starting WWIII and causing nuclear inhalation. One could spend this movie review listing the similarities between the two Columbia Pictures releases. However, I will not bore you with that list. We can move on and assume the two movies release in 1964 are near mirror images of each other.

Failsafe does a pretty good job explaining how accidentally starting WWIII is possible. Despite the details, this movie tries to investigate the evolution of war and human nature driving war.

The movie states that as technology develops, war quickens. The time between attack and retaliation decreases. Soon, there is no room for human reaction. Failsafe leads you think that soon wars will be started, fought, and lost with little human action.

Professor Groeteschele (Walter Matthau) has studied war and decides murder is acceptable to prevent your own death. ‘Those who can survive are the only ones worth surviving.’ General Black challenges Groeteschele’s conclusion. Black argues killing to save yourself erases the division between you and your enemy.

Failsafe also looks at human nature. Professor Groeteschele speaks with a woman who is amused with the idea or nuclear war. Groeteschele is more than irritates with her reaction and comments maybe some people just want to push the big red button. Perhaps he is right.

Speaking of Professor Groeteschele, Walter Matthau give a great performance in the movie. Matthau is often associated with comedies and more light-hearted material. However, he plays a serious civilian adviser in a nuclear think tank. Matthau proves he is a good actor with this role. In Failsafe, he makes you forget he is that guy in The Odd Couple and Grumpy Old Men. Good stuff.

Failsafe takes a hard look and nuclear war and leaves you with a sinking feeling in your stomach. It’s message rings true today as it did in 1964. That is why CBS decided to remake the film in 2000 with a slew of big names. (But I would not recommend wasting your money or time looking for that one at the video store. Just watch the original and save yourself the heartache.)

But with such a heavy topic, you really do need some comedy (preferably black) to reach your audience. Just look at The Day After. Even the extras that played in the movie needed some psychological counseling. So I have to say, Failsafe is good but Dr. Strangelove is better.

Probably Kevin Smith’s best movie. Because honestly, who did not want to eat the wrong end of a gun after watching Chasing Amy, or Clerks?

Mallrats if fully equipped with Smith’s involved dialog. Something we have come to expect from all his movies. Which is funny considering Smith loves to play Silent Bob in his own movies.

There are a couple precious moments in Mallrats. First, we have the jailbait social scientist who gives her body to study the male sex drive. Second, we have the creator of Marvel comics, Stan Lee, step in for a cameo and lend the main character some advice on love.

I enjoy watching Shannen Doherty acting like her rumored persona, a bitch. I enjoy watching Ben Affleck acting like a jerk. I enjoy watching Jason Lee before he struck it rich on My Name is Earl. But mostly I enjoy watching Kevin Smith before he wanted to preach to us in Dogma or take center stage in Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back.

Who does not love a movie about growing up, adoption, and teen pregnancy? Apparently no one. Juno won an Oscar and was nominated for many other awards in various categories. The movie probably deserved all the praise.

Once you get past all the hype, Juno is not a bad movie. As long as you can handle a screenplay that tries desperately hard to keep current with teen speak and is honestly, a little unreal. Juno is somewhat off the beaten path, which is refreshing.

Ellen Page plays the perfect sarcastic, wise-cracking teen who manages to get preggers. Her acting seems like a tribute Janeane Garofalo, only a little more likable. I would be interested in seeing her in Smart People, but I cannot bring myself to watch Dennis Quaid, Sarah Jessica Parker, or Thomas Haden Church for a full-length movie. Sorry.

Michael Cera proves he can play a quiet nerdy guy you kind of want to punch in the face. Which is a huge stretch in case he did not give you enough of that in Superbad, Arrested Development, or any of the interviews he gives. But Michael has a lot of work under his belt and hopefully he will push himself in future roles.

Juno is the quirky comedy that came out of nowhere and is not completely horrible. I really would not be ashamed to have it in my collection. Plus, you have got to love a movie where the teenagers are played by twenty-year-olds.