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Dan Dark is a novelist trapped in a clinic treating his severe case of psoriasis which leave shim unable to move almost any part of his body without severe pain. The disease has made Dan true to his name; he is mad at the world, thinks his wife is cheating on him and trying to take him for his money, and suffers from intense paranoia. In an effort to escape the prison of his body Dan’s imagination has taken over and he see’s the fantasy of what he thinks is going on in his life with his wife and doctors, and in his imagination he is the fictional persona from his book, the singing detective.

One of my favorite things about The Singing Detective is the visual style of the film. There are three separate worlds in the movie and Keith Gordon creates a distinct style for each yet somehow manages to stitch them all into one cohesive whole. The colors and lighting in The Singing Detective are a thing of beauty.

I must also complement Robert Downey Jr. Keith Gordon came to my class in college and spoke about working with Downey in this movie; The Singing Detective was Downey’s first starring role in a film since his jail sentence and producer Mel Gibson and Gordon had to fight to get Downey cast as the lead. However, their insistence paid off and Downey gives a memorable and moving performance as the paranoid Dan Dark.

The Singing Detective is a multi-layered movie, and is very different. Keith Gordon made a quirky film about a man trying to figure himself out and it is quite the experience to watch.

Director: Keith Gordon
Writer: Dennis Potter
Dan Dark: Robert Downey Jr.
Nicola: Robin Wright Penn
Dr. Gibbon: Mel Gibson
Mark Binney: Jeremy Northam
Nurse Mills: Katie Holmes
First Hood: Adrien Brody
Second Hood: Jon Polito
Betty Dark: Carla Gugino

Dan Dark: Are you pretending to be an oddball or are you actually nuts?

I was in high school when I bought my first DVD player (at the time DVD’s were brand spankin’ new) and I still remember the first DVD’s I bought, these two DVD’s are probably the perfect example of the diversity in my movie vocabulary, these DVD’s are The Silence of the Lambs and She’s All That.

I adored She’s All That in high school and it still amuses me greatly. The movie really is My Fair Lady set in high school. Class president Zack, the most popular guy in school has come back from spring break senior year and been promptly dumped by his girlfriend Taylor – the most popular girl in school. Zack proposes a bet that he can make any girl in school prom queen, that most of Taylor’s appeal comes from her attitude, clothing and her social circle. Wanting to bring Zack down Dean chooses a girl for the bet – Laney Boggs – one of the most unpopular and awkward girls in school. After Zack convinces Laney that he wants to be friends with her he of course falls for the girl but can’t quite make him believe that he is on the level.

I love both Freddie Prinze Jr and Rachael Leigh Cook in this movie, but I have to say that I can’t name a single big thing they’ve done since She’s All That. I think that this movie and its stars remain mostly in my high school experience and not in contemporary pop culture. But I still find this movie fun.

Director: Robert Iscove
Writer: R. Lee Fleming Jr.
Zack Siler: Freddie Prinze Jr.
Laney Boggs: Rachael Leigh Cook
Brock Hudson: Matthew Lillard
Dean Sampson: Paul Walker
Taylor Vaughan: Jodi Lyn O’Keefe
Wayne Boggs: Kevin Pollak
Mackenzie Siler: Anna Paquin
Simon Boggs: Kieran Culkin
Katie: Gabrielle Union
Misty: Clea DuVall

Zach Siler: She kinda blew me off.
Mackenzie Siler: I like her already.

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.