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It’s taken me a week to write about Alice in Wonderland because I haven’t been able to process it; I’ve been trying to sort out the actual film from my pre-existing feelings about Tim Burton. Before you start thinking I’m one of those people that has Jack or Sally tattooed on my body or can recite the Beetlejuice chant by heart I am the exact opposite – Tim Burton is a director that I respect but get aggravated by.

Let me explain, I think Tim Burton is a talented director with an incredibly unique visual style. You can’t see a Tim Burton film and not feel his hand all over it. However, that is also my problem with Tim Burton. I think he’s a very one note director that’s all about the visuals and while he gets good performances out of his actors he merely makes the same movie over and over again – dark theme, angry characters, blue/gray visuals, lots of stripes and clouds. The one notable exception to this rule is Big Fish; that movie is far different than anything I’ve ever seen him do and proof that if given the inspiration Burton can think outside his box and do it beautifully. Despite all hope to the contrary, Alice in Wonderland is not Burton thinking outside is box. Burton is fully in his box, and again not trying anything new.

I knew that it was going to end up being the same old Burton film right from the opening shot. The camera panned down a cloudy night sky onto a full moon ringed by clouds and I literally groaned and complained out loud – I have a witness – it’s such a Tim Burton shot, there’s no other way to out it. Alice in Wonderland may have more color and effects than I am used to seeing in a Burton film, but at the end of the credits it’s just the same old Burton gothic film.

The one saving grace to my feelings about Burton and Alice in Wonderland is that I don’t think the film falling flat is all his fault. Throughout the film you are given hints of a darker side of the story, a hints of a romance between Hatter & Alice and other elements that tell you perhaps Burton was trying to go another direction with his reimagined Alice and was prevented from doing so by some higher power, probably for the sake of a PG rating.

Also, there is the fact that Alice herself seems to be going through some kind of emotional change and turmoil through the film that is never actually explained…even though the film thinks it explains it. What I mean is from the moment we first see adult Alice she’s grappling with some very adult issues and is obviously lost in her own life. Through the course of the film everyone keeps talking about how Alice needs to figure out who she is, and Mia Wasikowska does a great job of showing on screen that Alice is going through something, but by the end when Alice seems to have completed her emotional transformation you realize that nothing has happened to actually make Alice go through this character arch. She’s merely been told she needs to become this person and then she does…there is no motivation, no greater plot, no connection between what is happening on screen and her emotional journey – it just happens.

That may in itself be the best way to summarize Alice in Wonderland - it just happens. You spend the first twenty minutes of the film waiting for Alice to get to Wonderland, then you are told exactly what is going to happen in the film and of course then it just happens and credits roll.

Director: Tim Burton
Writer: Linda Woolverton
Alice: Mia Wasikowska
Mad Hatter: Johnny Depp
Red Queen: Helena Bonham Carter
White Queen: Anne Hathaway
Stayne: Crispin Glover
The Tweedles: Matt Lucas
Cheshire Cat: Stephen Fry
White Rabbit: Michael Sheen
Blue Caterpillar: Alan Rickman

Mad Hatter: You were much more... muchier. You've lost your muchiness.

Jane Austen was not your typical English girl for her era; she was reaching the age that society deemed she’d need to be married or she’d never be married, she had suitors she didn’t want, and she wanted to write. However, soon Jane meets Tom Lefroy, an impulsive poor lawyer and the two fall madly in love. Their romance meets rejection at every turn and Jane begins one of her most popular novels Pride & Prejudice based on the experience.

Becoming Jane is yet another in a long line of Jane Austen movies, though the obvious bent in this particular film is to show the similarities between the life of Jane Austen and her fiction. While I cannot say this film is a failure, as obviously what occurs in the film is framed on Austen’s life, but I can say that the film was not as engaging as I hoped it would be.

What struck me as strange was that one of the issues I had with Becoming Jane was an issue I had with Brokeback Mountain: the two romantic leads meet each other and without any real impetus or motivation besides the writer needing a story beat, they are suddenly, madly, deeply in love and we as an audience are asked to buy it. It’s instantaneous, they are friends then suddenly one character kisses another and the next thing we know they are professing their undying love. My problem is that this moment doesn’t play as genuine because it comes out of left field and it’s the moment that the rest of the film hinges on.

Anne Hathaway and James McAvoy are two actors I could watch in just about any role and they are also fantastic in Becoming Jane. I’m not sure they had a great romantic chemistry in this film, but both are enormously talented and made their relationship onscreen work.

While I don’t think that Becoming Jane was a waste of my time, I do think that if I want a Jane Austen fix I will just watch a version of Pride & Prejudice.

Director: Julian Jarrold
Writers: Kevin Hood & Sarah Williams
Jane Austen: Anne Hathaway
Tom Lefroy: James McAvoy
Mrs. Austen: Julie Walters
Rev. Austen: James Cromwell
Lady Gresham: Maggie Smith

Jane: My characters shall have, after a little trouble, all that they desire.

Andy is one of the newly graduated individuals looking for her big break and is shocked when she gets it – she is hired as Miranda Priestly’s assistant at Runway, the world’s premier fashion publication. If Andy can survive a year under Miranda’s intense scrutiny and flair for the dramatic she can get hired at any publication she applies for. However, Andy quickly realizes that to survive at Runway means some large changes in her life; from her fashion sense to her attitude Andy is forced into a new world that she doesn’t fully understand yet and attempts to discover where the line between ambition and selling your soul truly lies.

The Devil Wears Prada was one of the biggest surprises for me the year it came out. I expected a garden variety chick flick and was shocked to find a genuinely great movie that I would want to see over and over again. From the fashion on the screen, to four uniquely memorable characters I could not get enough of this movie. Perhaps, I identify with Andy Sachs because I too am looking for my big break into an impossible industry, but I think this is a great movie.

What I actually remember most about this movie, and think is one of the most brilliant things it could have done is the marketing strategy. Though the film had a built in audience as it is based on a best selling book, and Meryl Streep guaranteed a certain box office cache, the moment the first trailer for The Devil Wears Prada hit it became a sensation, and it spawned a trend.

The trailer for the film was a scene from the film. Not just any scene mind you but one of the most memorable scenes in the film, the scene where Miranda first arrives to the office and you see the entire staff of Runway whip into a frenzy of subject terror as Andy watches in wonderment. It was brilliant. It not only set up the film perfectly, but gave you a taste of what the film would be like if you went to the theater to see it. I know more people that went to this movie after seeing the trailer than I can say for any other movie of its kind.

Along with being a witty and well made film The Devil Wears Prada is a film filled to the brim with good performances and memorable characters. This is definitely a film to see.

Director: David Frankel
Writer: Aline Brosh McKenna
Miranda Priestly: Meryl Streep
Andy Sachs: Anne Hathaway
Emily: Emily Blunt
Nigel: Stanely Tucci
Christian Thompson: Simon Baker
Nate: Adrian Grenier
Lily: Tracie Thomas
Doug: Rich Sommer
James Holt: Daniel Sunjata

Miranda Priestly: Do you know why I hired you? I always hire the same girl- stylish, slender, of course... worships the magazine. But so often, they turn out to be- I don't know- disappointing and, um... stupid. So you, with that impressive résumé and the big speech about your so-called work ethic- I, um- I thought you would be different. I said to myself, go ahead. Take a chance. Hire the smart, fat girl. I had hope. My God. I live on it. Anyway, you ended up disappointing me more than, um- more than any of the other silly girls.

Picking up 5 years after the conclusion of The Princess Diaries Mia is now the crown princess of Genovia, and now that she is 21 she is preparing to take over as Queen from her Grandmother Clarisse. However, Mia’s American heritage is unacceptable to Viscount Mabrey and he challenges Mia’s right o inherit the throne by dredging up a law that states no Queen can be unmarried and his Nephew Nicholas would be the rightful heir if Mia cannot marry. This forces Mia to pursue an arranged marriage in 30 days, and Clarisse invites Nicholas to stay at the palace while Mia plans her wedding to Andrew so that she can keep an eye on any mischief the Viscount may be planning. As usual, Mia manages to cause a lot of trouble, the biggest matter being that she and Nicholas’ tormented relationship slowly beings to become something more as the two fall for each other complicating both her engagement and the plans of the Viscount.

It may be true that since Pretty Woman Gary Marshall uses the same jokes over and over again, but I still find The Princess Diaries 2 to be adorable and charming. It probably helps that Grey’s Anatomy creater Shonda Rhimes wrote the screenplay and while Grey’s may have gone down the tubes, the woman can write great comedic women. I do adore this screenplay and think it is the perfect blend of a traditional Disney film and a romantic comedy.

One of the reasons I have always loved The Princess Diaries is because of the female leads – Anne Hathaway & Julie Andrews. I don’t think you could better match two actresses from different generations. Anne is grace, poise, talent and beauty - exactly what Julie Andrews is. The two play off each other so flawlessly that you would assume that they could possibly be related. Hathaway is perfect for the role of the unassuming princess and at this point in her career I do consider her the heir to the likes of Julies Andrews or Audrey Hepburn.

I do have to say that from the first time I saw this movie one of the big selling points for me was Chris Pine. I liked him before he was Captain Kirk. Pine plays Nicholas as the perfect romantic foil to Mia and I am glad he has gone on since to continue getting progressively larger roles. I cannot wait to see where his career takes him.

The Princess Diaries 2 is actually a film that I enjoy better than the first. Perhaps it’s because I grew up along the same lines as Mia’s character did, in the sense that in 2004 I was only a little older than Mia, and having grown up with Cinderella stories Mia meeting her prince charming did manage to resonate with me. Regardless, the film is funny, well made and an entertaining watch.

Director: Gary Marshall
Writers: Shonda Rhimes
Mia: Anne Hathaway
Queen Clarisse: Julie Andrews
Joe: Hector Elizondo
Viscount Mabrey: John Rhys-Davies
Lily Moscovitz: Heather Matarazzo
Nicholas: Chris Pine
Andrew Jacoby: Callum Blue

Mia Thermopolis: Oh, by the way, I'm getting married!
Lilly Moscovitz: To who?
Mia Thermopolis: I don't know.

Bride Wars is just what the name would imply. Emma & Liv are best friends since childhood and have dreamed of having June weddings at the Plaza hotel, when both their boyfriends propose they think all their wedding dreams are going to come true…until their wedding planners assistant makes the mistake of booking their weddings on the same day and time instead of two separate days. When neither Emma or Liv will move their wedding date old rivalries begin to bubble to the surface and an all out war between the friends starts.

What I really liked about Bride Wars is the pairing of Kate Hudson and Anne Hathaway. Together these two women are a dynamic duo that are each capable of making the audience laugh and then bringing an emotional moment to the forefront.

I was surprised by this movie because the name Bride Wars would imply that it is about the wedding more than anything else, not about the couple or the marriage. However, this move proved to be about not just the friendship between the women, but the relationship they had with their fiancées and how each couple is weathering problems and the characters take into account how this might affect their marriage.

There is a trend in film and television now to use a still image but change the perspective or pring “life” to the image by making the background continue moving, zooming in, etc. It drives me nuts. I hate it. It looks flattened, no longer dynamic and typically sticks out like a sore thumb. Bride Wars uses this freeze framed image technique for it’s exposition sequences and that’s just far too much use of that device – this is by far my biggest bone to pick with the film.

If you’re looking for a romantic comedy with just the right amount of cheese, but with some fun chemistry in it’s cast I do think Bride Wars is a cute film. However, it’s really not my cup of tea, but I am sure plenty of girls will watch this over and over again.

Director: Gary Winick
Writer: Greg DePaul, Casey Wilson & June Diane Raphael
Liv: Kate Hudson
Emma: Anne Hathaway
Nate: Bryan Greenberg
Fletcher: Chris Pratt
Daniel: Steve Howey
Marion St. Claire: Candice Bergen
Deb: Kristen Johnston

Marion St. Claire: Sometimes in life there really are bonds formed that can never be broken. Sometimes you really can find that one person who will stand by you no matter what. Maybe you'll find it in a spouse and celebrate it with your dream wedding, but theres also the chance that the one person you can count on for a lifetime, the one person who knows you sometimes better than you know yourself is the same person who's been standing beside you all along.

Rachel Getting Married is a beautiful film, having seen it twice now I have to say that I do think it is probably one of the single best films that came out in 2008. From the camera work to the lead actresses there is a deceptive simpleness about this film. This is by no means a film that is loosely constructed though the cinema verite style might try to imply that. This film is constructed in such a way that it draws you inside the life of this tragic family in such a way that it truly feels like you are in the room with them listening to their battles, their pitfalls and finally their epiphanies.

Perhaps the most real thing about this film is that this is a family that struggles. They fight over things in the past both big and small and they are trying to come to terms with how to exist as a family now. It is real, it is unique and it is so well crafted that you forget you are watching fiction.

I pity the people that go into Rachel Getting Married and Revolutionary Road thinking that they are films that will be light hearted and romantic in the end; the people that go in expecting that will miss the true relevance and brilliance of these films.

Kym: I am Shiva the destroyer, your harbinger of doom this evening.

Rachel Getting Married is an interesting film; while I don’t think the title quite explains the movie at the same time I really don’t think that you could name the film anything else. The name Rachel Getting Married evokes thoughts of romantic comedies and light hearted fare, but the film actually revolves around deep seeded trials, tribulations and demons that Rachel’s family has lived through; however, the entire film is propelled by one simple action – Rachel getting married.

At the beginning of the film we discover that Kym is just being released from rehab where she has been for quite awhile and her father and step-mother are taking her home for her sister Rachel’s wedding. Kym is a deeply troubled young woman who has been in and out of addictions and rehab for most of her young life. When she arrives home she has to maintain her desire to stay sober while dealing with the pressure she feels from her family, the pressure she puts on herself and the demons that plague her through every action she takes. The film explores the relationship between the sisters and their father and estranged mother and how they can go on when so much in their past tries to push them apart.

The way the story unfolds in Rachel Getting Married is one of the most organic story telling processes I’ve ever seen and fits perfectly with the way Jonathan Demme decided to shoot the film. Watching Rachel Getting Married feels like you are a fly on the wall in this families life until after the wedding. You learn things as characters learn things, watch as characters have different experiences, and share in every event that happens to Kym. No one lays out any information before the characters themselves bring it up to start or resolve a conflict and that leaves the audience to learn the families trials, choose sides over who they empathize with and more than anything feel things when the character feels them.

By choosing a naturalistic cinema verite style Demme lets the audience absorb the events at a slow steady pace and thus takes away what could be overdone elements of melodrama and replaces them with genuine human emotion. The best thing about this is that it shows that Demme trusts his audience enough to come to terms with what is happening on screen without forcing them to feel a certain way. He shows slowly and surely the casual linkage behind events and how no matter how we try some things can never solely be blamed on one individual or event, and he shows a family that is struggling with dealing with these things and yet still trying to love each other.

If awards season goes the way I think it might I would not be surprised to see Anne Hathaway get a nomination from SAG, the Globes, the Oscars or any combination of those shows. Her performance as Kym is amazing to the point where she pretty much disappears into the role and you forget you are watching a Hollywood starlet that the tabloids buzz about. Much praise has been given to her performance in this film and I do not think it is unwarranted.

Rachel Getting Married is a very good movie, and by the end you will feel like you attended Rachel’s wedding.

Director: Jonathan Demme
Writer: Jenny Lumet
Kym: Anne Hathaway
Rachel: Rosemarie DeWitt
Kieran: Mather Zickel
Paul: Bill Irwin
Carol: Anna Deavere Smith
Emma: Anisa George
Sidney: Tunde Adebimpe
Abby: Debra Winger