Jack Reacher

Writer-director Oscar winner McQuarries' latest visual craftsmanship is based on Lee Child's book One Shot, the ninth in the series of Reacher novels.

The feature begins with a technically well executed opening sniper scene, effective and without dialogue, setting the tone for an old fashioned action thriller.

Convincing supporting cast performances by Richard Jenkins, David Oyelowo and Robert Duvall effectively draw the viewers in. In addition to making his own action scenes, Tom Cruise perfectly portrays a natural, intense character. Seeing him fight 5 slugs without a sweat is a must see. However, in his most high profile Hollywood film to date, it is german director Weiner Herzog's chilling performance as the villain Zec that steals the show with some of the best lines.

In what appears to be an open and shut case, detective Emerson (David Oyelowo) and District Attorney Rodin (Richard Jenkins) charge former army sniper James Barr (Joseph Sikora) for the random shooting of five people. 

Mysteries are uncovered when the enigmatic vigilante, former Military Police Jack Reacher (Tom Cruise) decides to join the investigative efforts of defense attorney Helen Rodin (Rosamund Pikes).

Caleb Deschanel's great camera angles, car chases, martial arts fight scenes, and interspersed humor make this an enjoyable action thriller.

The Guilt Trip

In this adventurous cross country road trip with Seth Rogen, Academy Award® winner Barbra Streisand returns to the big screen in a transformative, mother-son generational-gap feature.

The protective widowed mother, Joyce Brewster (Streisand) thinks the world of her son Andrew (Seth Rogen) who struggles in introducing his environmentally friendly product into the market. Setting meetings throughout the country, Andrew invites his mother to join him in his travels.

The script carries a dialogue that feels real and with characters that are relatable, especially aided by the displayed chemistry between Streisand and Rogen.


The relationship dynamics between mother and son is played out beautifully through the vulnerability of two complex characters.

Director Anne Fletcher's refreshing theme, has great flow, capturing many heartfelt moments that leave you with smiles throughout.

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey

A new visual experience marks this latest feature by Academy Award® winner, director Peter Jackson. Shot at double the standard rate, in high speed 3-D at 48 frames per second (HR3D), this new technological marvel delivers a highly detailed spectacular and immersive imagery.

Reunited in The Hobbit trilogy's first installment are the Rings trilogy team, including cinematographer Andrew Lesnie, and production designer Dan Hennah. While maintaining Lord Of The Rings' (LOTR) tonal consistency, Stewart introduces the characters, their journey and establishes LOTR connections. Enjoyable are the performances, humor, extensive costume, makeup, hair and prosthetics, as well as the colorful New Zealand scenery.

Based on Tolken's 1937 book, the epic adventure is set in the mythologic Middle-earth world 60 years before The Lord of the Rings. Hobbit Bilbo Baggins (Martin Freeman) is swept away by 13 Dwarves, led by warrior and heir to the throne Thorin Oakenshield (Richard Armitage), to reclaim the lost Dwarf Kingdom from the vicious Dragon Smaug. Aided by wizard Gandalf the Grey (Ian McKellen) they surpass treacherous lands inhabited by Goblins, Orcs, deadly Wargs, and the sinister Necromancer. Along the way, they seek refuge at the Rivendell home of Elf Lord Elrond (Hugo Weaving) where Gandalf meets Galadriel (Cate Blanchett).

In addition to being available in 2D, 3D and 3D at 48 fps, the movie experience includes CGI and motion capture technology. Tangible and light theme appeal to the younger audiences although the violence may be excessive for some. Lesnie's swooping HR3D camerawork in flyover landscape shots are especially beautiful. The humor, Howard Shores's scores sung by the Dwarves, the action sequences, the rock battle scenes as well as Gollum and Bilbo's riddle game, are some of the best moments.

Notwithstanding the nearly three hours in length, the intricate details, impressive battle scenes, and magnificent special effects, are engaging and sure to please the fans.

Hitchcock

Director Sacha Gervasi's feature brings together for the first time two greats, Academy Award® winners Anthony Hopkins and Helen Mirren, in a provocative, behind the scenes look at the making of Psycho.

Based on the book by Stephen Rebello, and on the screenplay by Black Swan co-writer John J. McLaughlin, Gervasi's feature explores the dynamics surrounding the filming of Hitchcock's best known, most daring and controversial undertaking inspired by Wisconsin murderer Ed Gein (Michael Wincott).

Psycho represented a departure from Hitchcock's usual filmmaking, and one which he self financed. Thoughts that his wife and closest collaborator, Alma (Helen Mirren) may be vulnerable to the charms of writer Whitfield Cook (Danny Huston), increased the strain on Hitchcock's marriage.

The convincing all star cast captures the drama, sentimentality, and humor. With the makeup and prosthetic team of Howard Berger, Peter Montagna, and KNB EFX Group, Inc., Anthony Hopkins delivers a solid portrayal of Hitchcock's quiet, reserved, and witty personality, while Helen Mirren is remarkable in Alma's role as Hitchcock's wife, advisor, creative contributor, and story editor.

Well portrayed are actresses Janet Leigh (Scarlett Johansson) and Vera Miles (Jessica Biel), as well as AMPAS chief censor Geoffrey Shurlock (Kurtwood Smith), Paramount's Head of Production Barney Balaban (Richard Portnow), and Hitchcock's agent Lew Wasserman (Michael Stuhlbarg). Music composer Bernard Herrmann leads the master of suspense's screeching classic shower scene score that still entertains us today.

Bodies and Shadows: Caravaggio and His Legacy

Following the 2010 400^th anniversary of Caravaggio and coinciding with the year of Italian culture in 2013, Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) celebrates one of the most influential painters in European history, Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio (1571 Milan- Porto Ercole, 1610) known for his striking light and dark contrasts, dramatic realism, and intense psychological compositions.

LACMA's US premiere includes eight Caravaggio paintings displayed alongside 50 additional 17^th century European Caravaggist artists from France, Spain, and the Netherlands, who followed in his footsteps. Included are Baglione, Saraceni, Orazio and Artemisia Gentileschi, Manfredi, Vouet and Valentin as well as Honthorst.

Featured is Caravaggio's first religious composition, Saint Francis of Assisi in Ecstasy (c. 1595, Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art, Hartford, Connecticut), thought to be the artist's self-portrait. In addition, on view for the first time in the United States, and attributed to Caravaggio just three years ago, is the Portrait of Maffeo Barberini, (1596-1597, Private Collection, Florence, Italy) who became Pope Urban VIII in 1623.

The exhibit's design enables comparisons between several themes such as Caravaggio's dramatically engaging, The Toothpuller (circa 1608-1609, Galleria Palatina, Palazzo Pitti, Florence, Italy), and Atelier of Theodoor Rombouts' The Toothpuller (circa 1625-1630, Musée d'Art Roger Quilliot, Clermont-Ferrand, France).

Caravaggio's revolutionary style is featured in highlighted works such as the ordinary looking Martha and Mary Magdalen (circa 1598, Detroit Institute of Art), in Saint John the Baptist in the Wilderness (1604-1605, The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, Missouri) dressed with animal skin, in the off center Jesus in Ecce Homo (1605 Musei di Strada Nuova, Genoa, Italy), as well as in his last two works painted shortly prior to his death, The Denial of Saint Peter (1610, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York), and Caravaggio's own head on the platter in Salome Receives the Head of St. John the Baptist (circa 1606-1610, National Gallery, London England).

The Robert H. Ahmanson Chief Curator of European Art at LACMA, Patrice Marandel, worked on this exhibit for approximately ten years, under the auspices of FRAME (French Regional American Museum Exchange), Musée des Augustins of Toulouse, the Musée Fabre du Montpellier, Los angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) and the Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Arts of Hartford, with installation designed by Frederick Fisher and Partners Architects.

The exhibit runs from November 11, 2012, through February 10, 2013, at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) Lynda and Stewart Resnick Exhibition Pavilion, located at 5905 Wilshire Boulevard, Los Angeles, CA 90036. For more information call (323) 857-6000 or visit www.lacma.org

Stanley Kubrick: A Retrospective

Opening at Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) is the only US retrospective of one of the most celebrated American film directors of the 20^th century, Stanley Kubrick (1928-1999), in a first collaboration between LACMA and the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS).

A walkthrough of Kubrick's creative methods and immersive visuals span from his early photographs in Look Magazine (1940-1945) to his last movie, Eyes Wide Shut (1999). Each exhibit component encompasses props, projection screens with film segments, original promotional material, annotated scripts, set models, costumes, cameras and equipment, as well as never completed projects such as Napoleon and The Aryan Papers.

Each segment is thematically organized to display the broad genre and original fusion of form and content, illuminating the German Expressionism with American Realism experimentation Kubrick was known for.

First shown at Frankfurt's Deutsches Filmmuseum, the retrospective design evolved as it traveled to Berlin, Melbourne, Ghent, Zurich, Rome, Paris and Amsterdam while maintaining its focus on Kubrick's artistic and technical mastery as seen, among others, in the films Clockwork Orange, 2001: A Space Odyssey, The Shining and Full Metal Jacket.

Kubrick's retrospective, along with the recent Tim Burton's retrospective and Dali's Paintings and Film, manifest a growing interest in film as an art-form and have led to the creation of the new Academy of Motion Pictures Museum at LACMA’s West building campus. With Renzo Piano and Zoltan Pali as designers, this 230,000 square feet state of the art film museum will include theaters, galleries, interactive movie-making stages, education centers and special event spaces.

The exhibit is organized by Deutsches filmmuseum, Frankfurt am Main, Christiane Kubrick and the Stanley Kubrick Archive at University of the Arts London with the support of Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc., Sony-Columbia Pictures Industries Inc., Metro Goldwyn Mayer Studios Inc., Universal Studios Inc., and SK Film archives LLC.

Kubrick's retrospective runs from November 1, 2012, through June 30, 2013, at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) at the Art of the Americas Building, located at 5905 Wilshire Boulevard, Los Angeles, CA 90036. For more information call (323) 857-6000 or visit www.lacma.org

Cloud Atlas

Based on David Mitchell's best-selling novel, ambitious filmmakers Tom Tykwer, Andy Wachowski, and Lana Wachowski brought this visually immersive voyage to the big screen.

Engaging through its continued action, the feature encompasses at its core reoccurring powerful themes such as the quest for freedom, justice, good and the temptation of evil, as well as how actions affect our legacy in the past, present, and into the future.

While half a dozen interwoven stories and intriguing plots unfold, the characters, distinguished by their soul birthmark, switch genders and races as they move through time. Each of the all-star cast members plays multiple, diverse, and challenging roles. Included are Tom Hanks, Halle Berry, Ben Whishaw, Jim Broadbent, Doona Bae, Hugo Weaving, James D'Arcy, Xun Zhou, Keith David, David Gyasi, Susan Sarandon, and Hugh Grant.

Reinhold Heil, Johnny Klimek, and Tom Tykwer's beautiful score exalts the feature's emotions, while Alexander Berner and Claus Wehlisch's editing flows smoothly holding interest throughout the unfelt, nearly 3 hour running time.

Complementing the transcending styles are John Toll and Frank Griebe's cinematography and impressive special effects. Kym Barrett and Pierre-Yves Gayraud's costume designs, along with Jeremy Woodhead and Daniel Parker’s extraordinary prosthetic makeup and hair designs completely transforms the characters rendering them, between segments, virtually unrecognizable. Not until the final credits roll, are the impressive characterizations revealed, leaving the viewer with an element of surprise.

Trouble with the Curve

Academy Award® winner Clint Eastwood comes out of semi-retirement to perform in Trouble with the Curve, the first movie he does not direct since In the Line of Fire (1993). Life transitions are at the center of director Robert Lorenz' feature debut with an all star cast, based on a screenplay by Randy Brown.

In the principal role, Eastwood portrays Gus Lobel, a grouchy, veteran baseball scout on the brink of losing his job. 

While on a North Carolina scouting trip, Gus attempts to prove his worth to Phillip Sanderson, the Atlanta Braves' associate director of scouting (Matthew Lillard) and Gus' old friend and boss, Pete Klein (John Goodman). In the meantime, rival Boston Red Sox scout Johnny Flanagan (Justin Timberlake) finds a love interest in Mickey (Oscar® nominee Amy Adams), Gus' daughter.

Good performances portrayed with some humor mark the feature. Especially well played out is the strained father-daughter relationship where Eastwood's effortless and Adams' solid performance stand out. The Social Network actor and former 'N Sync singer, Timberlake, brings on-screen energy to the baseball drama.

Though somewhat predictable and slow paced, this cinematic experience is well delivered, enjoyable, and uplifting.

Ken Price Sculpture: a Retrospective

A 50-year retrospective of one of the least known, first rate American artists, Ken Price, recognized for his fired and painted clay ceramic work, opens at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA).

Organized by LACMA's senior curator of modern art Stephanie Barron, the exhibit features Ken Price's abstract sculptures creatively accentuated by his close friend, Pritzker Prize-winning architect Frank O. Gehry who designed the settings and lighting.

Linking minimalism and postmodernism abstract art, Ken Price infuses color and form like no other artist, drawing the viewer closer towards the depth, color composition and shape from different vantage points.

Strongly influenced by his ceramic artist teacher Peter Voulkos, Price studied also with Billy Al Bengston, John Mason, Mike Frimkess, Paul Soldner, Henry Takemoto, and Jerry Rothman.

This retrospective is bitter sweet since Ken Price, involved in every stage of the exhibit's planning and installation, past away this year in February.

Presented in reverse chronological order, the exhibit's first gallery displays the mottled sculptures for which the artist is most well-known, from 2000 to 2011, consisting of sculpture surfaces sanded through roughly seventy layers of vibrant colors.

The middle gallery highlights the most significant styles of his prolific career from 1959 to 2000, marked by geometric shapes intricately painted and glazed. Included are slumps, rocks, geometrics, cups, eggs and mounds as well as eleven works on paper and two large-scale sculptures from 2011 to 2012.

On view in the last gallery are the artist's last three works as well as three of the Happy's Curios series (1972 to 1977), an homage to Mexican pottery, named after Ken's wife, Happy.

Original and compelling, this retrospective is a great tribute to an American artist who redefined contemporary sculptures.

Following LACMA, the exhibit will travel to the Nasher Sculpture Center, Dallas (February 9 - May 12, 2013) and the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (June 18 - September 22, 2013).

The exhibit runs from September 16, 2012 through January 6, 2013, at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) Lynda and Stewart Resnick Exhibition Pavilion, located at 5905 Wilshire Boulevard, Los Angeles, CA 90036. For more information call (323) 857-6000 or visit www.lacma.org 

Levitated Mass

Forty years in the making, and following months of logistical planning, one of the largest megalithic stones to be moved since ancient times was transported 105 miles from Riverside to Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) where it was publicly unveiled on Sunday.

The 340 tons granite boulder, named Levitated Mass, is artist Michael Heizer's latest modern abstract art sculpture made out of a combination of concrete, steel and stone. As part of LACMA's public sculpture program, the rock sits in an arid landscaped area of LACMA's north lawn, where it is suspended over a 456 foot long walk-through trench that descends 15 feet in depth underneath the boulder.

The $10 million acquisition was dedicated to the memory of LACMA's former board of trustees chair Nancy Daly's leadership and philanthropic vision.

Following podium remarks and a ribbon cutting ceremony, artist Heizer, Mayor Villaraigoza, County Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky, LACMA CEO and Wallis Annenberg's Director Michael Govan, and an audience of generous patrons, and trustees led the approximately one thousand guests underneath the rock where it was admired from all angles and from a variety of lighting conditions.

Levitated Mass sparked neighborhood celebrations along its route from Jurupa Valley through 22 cities in the counties of Riverside, San Bernardino, Orange and Los Angeles. The rock also inspired a documentary by filmmaker Doug Pray called The Boulder, a 4^th of July Levitated Mass balloon by artist Mungo Thomson and, like the Tower of Pisa, countless of pictures of people posing pretending to hold the rock up.

Free admissions to the museum is granted through July 1 for residents of communities that the boulder passed through on its way to LACMA.

For more information contact Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) at 5905 Wilshire Boulevard, Los Angeles, CA 90036, (323) 857-6000 or visit www.lacma.org

Rock of Ages

In this nostalgic prodding of the 80's Broadway and West End stage musical of sex, love and rock 'n' roll, aspiring singers Sherrie Christian (Julianne Hough) and Drew Boley (Diego Boneta) fall in love while working at Dennis Dupree's (Alec Baldwin) legendary rock club, the Bourbon Room on the Sunset Strip. Sherrie and Drew's life takes a detour after meeting the emulated Rock 'n' Roll superstar, Stacee Jaxx (Tom Cruise) and his devious talent agent Paul Gill (Paul Giamatti).

Complicating matters are Justice (Mary J. Blige), owner of the Venus Club, Rolling Stone journalist Constance Sack (Malin Akerman), as well as Los Angeles Mayor Whitmore's (Bryan Cranston) prudish wife Patricia (Catherine Zeta-Jones) who is determined to shut the rock club down.

Superb cast performances include Paul Giamatti's hilarious portrayal of the sleazy and opportunistic talent agent, Alec Baldwin and, in the role of Dennis' business partner Lonny, Russell Brand. However, it is Tom Cruise who owns the feature with his over the top performance of the nonsensical, sex crazed, aging and burned out, Rock and Roll god superstar, Stacee Jaxx.

The uplifting collage of music videos is heavily intertwined with the story through high energy classic soundtracks and choreography. Actors Alec Baldwin, Tom Cruise and Russell Brand did their own singing. Surprisingly good is Tom Cruise's singing ability.

Cameo appearances of recording artists, many of whose songs are featured in the movie, include Nuno Bettencourt of Extreme, Night Ranger's Joel Hoekstra, Debbie Gibson, Skid Row's Sebastian Bach, and REO Speedwagon's Kevin Cronin.

Fun 80's hair, attire and accessories were included by costume designer Rita Ryack such as the huge phone and antenna with a phone bag. Slick production values by Jon Hutman include iconic landmarks such as Chateau Marmot and the former Tower Records.

Although simple and predictable, the performances and flashy musical entertainment deliver an enjoyable Rock of Ages.

Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted

The wild adventure is on high gear in this latest 3D installment of Madagascar 3.

Lion Alex (Ben Stiller), zebra Marty (Chris Rock), giraffe Melman (David Schwimmer) and hippo Gloria (Jada Pinkett Smith) make Europe's most wanted list. While pursued by the relentless Captain Chantel DuBois (Frances McDormand), they find refuge at a traveling circus where they meet Siberian tiger boss Vitaly (Bryan Cranston), seal Stefano (Martin Short) and Jaguar Gia (Jessica Chastain). The circus is also where lemur King Julien XIII (Sascha Baron Cohen) becomes infatuated with Sonya the tricycle riding bear in a tutu.

The feature maintains its stylistic simplicity, with talented voice cast and colorful, fast paced action. Spectacular circus dynamics make great use of 3D. New to the series are the circus characters as well as Captain DuBois. In the role of a crazed animal control officer, McDormand's portrayal is particularly captivating and entertaining.

Through heart and humor, Madagascar 3 amuses the young audience with relatable universal themes such as friendship and team work.

Snow White and the Huntsman

In his feature-film debut, acclaimed commercial director and state of the art visualist Rupert Sanders creates an innovative take on the 1812 Brothers Grimm fairytale with extraordinary use of CG and other special effects. 


While retaining all of the classic elements of the mirror, the evil Queen, the red apple, and the true love's kiss, Sanders added an edgier, gothic tone. 


Academy Award® winner Charlize Theron stars as the sinister Queen Ravenna who evokes dark powers to morph crows into demon-soldiers and who rips and eats young girls' hearts to preserve her beauty. Held captive in the castle, Snow White (Kristen Stewart) escapes into the forbidden Dark forest where, through Eric the huntsman's (Chris Hemsworth) martial arts tutelage, she turns into a warrior princess. 


While pursued by the Queen's evil brother Finn (Sam Spruell), Snow White encounters a group of brave women, an enchanted fairyland, Snow White's childhood friend Duke William (Sam Claflin), and eight feisty, tough looking dwarfs represented by a who's who of British acting masters: Ian McShane, Bob Hoskins, Ray Winstone, Nick Frost, Toby Jones, Eddie Marsan, Johnny Harris, and Brian Gleeson. 


In her first role as an action heroine, Stewart is more convincing as a princess than a warrior. Her performance is balanced by Hemsworth's levity and strong portrayal of the widowed huntsman. 


Along with three time Academy Award® winner Colleen Atwood's impressively intricate costume designs and Dominique Watkins's sets, extensive visual enhancement were implemented. Director of Photography Greig Fraser's combination of visual effects and old-school techniques coupled with designer David White's use of prosthetics hair and makeup, heighten the overall entertainment.

Dark Shadows

Straddling the line between the old and the new is director Tim Burton's Dark Shadows with an all-star cast, led by Johnny Depp, Michelle Pfeiffer, Helena Bonham Carter.

Based on the popular TV cult classic of the late 1960's and early 70’s, the part gothic horror, part comedy-romance-melodrama film is re-imagined by Tim Burton in this eight's remarkable cinematic partnership with actor-producer Johnny Depp.

In 1750's colonial Maine, the aristocrat Barnabas Collins is cursed as a vampire and into darkness. Two hundred years later, he is accidentally freed from his tomb and into a bizarre new world, 1972. Collins returns to his Collinwood Manor where he meets his family's dysfunctional descendants led by family matriarch Elizabeth Collins Stoddard (Michelle Pfeiffer). While trying to restore his family name to its old glory, he raises the suspicion of live-in psychiatrist Dr. Julia Hoffman (Helena Bonham Carter) who tries to dig-up the reason for Barnabas' odd and anachronistic behavior.

This cult favorite by screenwriter Seth Grahame-Smith doesn't spear any blood. Well-fitting the melodrama as well as Bruno Delbonnel's beautiful cinematography is production designer Rick Heinrichs’ gothic mansion. However, it is Johnny Depp's off beat and alluring portrayal that clutches fans as well as newcomers.

Sharon Lockhart l Noa Eshkol

Exploring artistic nature, preservation and interpretation are the
 creative visions of two notable artists, the American born photographer 
and filmmaker Sharon Lockhart (1964) and the minimalist Israeli dance composer,
 theorist, and textile artist Noa Eshkol (1924-2007). 
Co-organized with Israel Museum, Jerusalem, this North American 
exhibit premieres at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA).


Featured are Lockhart's photographic
 series and five-channel film installation based on the cumulative metronome rhythm of Eshkol’s five dances. Eshkol's former company members performed the dances using the
 Eshkol-Wachman Movement Notation (EWMN) System, developed by Eshkol
 and architect Avraham Wachman in the 1950's. EWMN combines symbols and numbers to describe body spatial 
relationships in time. Noa Eshkol related to the Notation as “a
 thinking tool that can teach people the art of observation, i.e
 encourage them to aspire for the ultimate level of seeing. It does so 
by organizing the 'material’ known as movements of the human body in 
relatively simple categories thereby allowing us an insight into the
 complexity of this phenomenon as a whole.”

Coupled with its artistry, the significance of movement notation lies in the scientific arena as 
an observation tool in the mapping of sign language, learning disability treatments, animal movement, the astronaut's locomotion in weightless conditions, as well 
as in the use of an infant's movement as an early predictor of autism 
and Asperger's syndrome.

Included in the exhibit are selections of Eshkol's visually engaging creations 
including wall carpets made out of recycled parts, scores, drawings and other archival material.


Following the presentation at LACMA the exhibit will travel to the 
Jewish Museum in New York.


The exhibit runs from June 2, 2012, through September 9, 2012, at
the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) BCAM, Level 2, located at
 5905 Wilshire Boulevard, Los Angeles, CA 90036. For more information 
call (323) 857-6000 or visit www.lacma.org

The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel

Superb performances by an all star cast mark this drama comedy set in Jaipur, India, about seven British retirees whose paths cross when they embark on an adventurous journey to India's lush retirement hotel, The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel. However, plans are derailed when the group finds itself in a dilapidated and chaotic hotel run by the young and enthusiastic, Sonny Kapoor (Dev Patel, Slumdog Millionaire).

The hotel guests include the financially stranded, recently widowed Evelyn (Judi Dench), the retired High Court Judge Graham revisiting his former neighborhood (Tom Wilkinson), the quarreling married couple Douglas and Jean (Bill Nighy and Penelope Wilton), the long time bachelor Norman (Ronald Pickup) in search for passion, the multi divorcée Madge (Celia Imrie) looking for her next husband, and Muriel (Maggie Smith) who needs a hip replacement.

Based on the novel These Foolish Things by Deborah Moggach, Ol Parker's engaging and witty script leads to multiple plots and funny lines that gradually grow on you as the retirees begin to open up to a life changing experience. Immersing the viewer into Jaipur's beauty, heat and traffic mayhem are Ben Davis' captivating and colorful cinematography along with Thomas Newman's music.

Geared for a mature audience, this pleasant, feel good feature is a delight for any age, leaving the viewer with a smile and the message that a new beginning can occur at any age.

American Reunion

Reuniting the original American Pie (1999) cast is this latest raunchy teen comedy franchise of American Reunion, the 13^th High School reunion at East Great Falls High.

Though now older, with issues of family and work, the friends' strong bond and youthful free spirit remains intact. We catch up with Oz (Chris Klein) and Heather (Mena Suvari), Kevin (Thomas Ian Nicholas) and Vicky (Tara Reid), and Jim (Jason Biggs) and Michelle (Alyson Hannigan) who are now couples, while the mysterious Finch (Eddie Kaye Thomas) is in love.

The feature's funniest character, Stifler (Seann William Scott), steals every scene, while Jim's father, the charismatic Eugene Levi and Stifler's mother, the beautiful Jennifer Coolidge are humorous together, deserving more screen time.

The screenplay by Adam Herz, Jon Hurwitz, and Hayden Schlossberg brings forth nostalgic memories. Fans will be pleased to see references to previous installments and cameo appearances. Funny scenes and good plot twists keep the laughs rolling all the way through the credits, connecting with teens and the installment's fans.