I just saw this on DVD. Man, what a powerful film. I love how much is said about gender, faith/imagination, and abuse through fairy tale. It can be enjoyed on so many levels.It's easily Guillermo Del Toro's best film...and helps me understand a lot of what Del Toro was trying to do with his previous work. But, damn...this film makes me feel awful for being a man!

My expectations aren't very high for the Watchmen live action film. I wasn't the hugest fan of 300 (but then again, I didn't really love the Graphic Novel either)...and feel that if there's one Comic that's nearly impossible to translate to celluloid it's Watchmen.But I love to be proven wrong. And these set pics look very nice!

I just saw Julie Taymor's "Across The Universe". I loved it.Julie Taymor is the visual genius who directed the "Lion King" broadway show, "Titus", and "Frida". "Across The Universe" received a bit of attention for it's use of Beatles tunes.A bunch of people I know who were initially interested in the film ended up not seeing it because of the sub-par critical response. Big mistake. They're all missing out on one of the best cinematic experiences to hit theatres in a long time.The backbone of the plot is a love story so the unromantic may get bored (sorry Jerry, this one ain't for you!)...but what is built around it is filled with beauty, ambition, and heart.

I just got this film from Netflix. I cannot wait to experience the madness of Alejandro Jodorowsky!The way Jodorowsky plays with iconography and pushes the limits of every medium he works with baffle me. As you can see from the trailer, Jodorowsky does no less when tackling the sensitive topic of religion.

I'm not sure if it's an official collaboration but Jay-Z began work on his new Album after watching an advanced private screening of Ridley Scott's "American Gangster" starring Denzel Washington and Russell Crowe. The album will be released in early November (close to the release date of the film) and tracks from the album have begun appearing on the internet.Production-wise the stuff I'm hearing is close to Jay-Z's "Blueprint" (my favorite Jay-Z album). Lyrically it's closer to "Reasonable Doubt" (lots of gangster mafioso storytelling).I wish I could get a little more of the introspective Jay-Z...but I'm really digging the overall feel of the music.Intentional or not, this is a brilliant cross-promotion. The movie gets the street-cred it needs to make it cool from the young kids. Jay-Z has a justified reason for sounding both gangsta and soulful.Below are the tracks I could find on YouTube:Roc Boys (produced by Kanye West)Blue Magic Video (music produced by Neptunes)???? (featuring Lil' Wayne, prouduction sounds like Kanye West)American Gangster Trailer (the inspiration)

I finally got around to seeing "Children of Men" starring Clive Owen and Julianne Moore. Damn. That may very well be one of the best film's I've seen in the last year. Someone was telling me that Director Ridley Scott claims that "Sci Fi" films are "dead". Clearly Mr. Scott hasn't seen "Children of Men".In the film, Theo (Clive Owen) assists a faction of rebels to help a pregnant woman to safety in a future dystopia where all human beings have inexplicably become infertile.Director Alfonso Cuaron ("Y Tu Mama Tambien" and "Harry Potter 4") does a masterful job of creating a rich world and visceral story. From the opening seconds of the film the viewer is thrust into a rusty world overloaded with information. Instead of glamorizing the future, the world of "Children of Men" forces the audience to catch up with the frantic paranoid pace of it's inhabitants.I highly recommend this film. Anyone read the novel it's based on?Here's an amazing steady cam scene that (I assume) was Cuaron's homage to "Saving Private Ryan":