Monthly Archives: November 2008

Willem Dafoe (THE ENGLISH PATIENT) plays an NYPD detective who grapples with a string of unusual serial murders, perpetrated by a killer who fashions himself an artist. As the detective investigates the brilliantly composed crime scenes, he draws closer to a mystery that may end up implicating himself. H.S. Miller wrote and directed this moody psychological thriller.

Based on the second novel in C.S. Lewis’s beloved CHRONICLES OF NARNIA series, PRINCE CASPIAN finds the four Pevensie children–Peter (William Moseley), Susan (Anna Popplewell), Edmund (Skandar Keynes), and Lucy (Georgie Henley)–once again whisked away from WWII-era England into the realm of Narnia, where the siblings once ruled as royalty. However, the Pevensies soon discover that 1,300 years have passed since they left, and the world is now controlled by the Telmarines, humans who long ago banished the magical creatures of Narnia to the wilderness. When the heir to the Telmarine throne, Caspian (Ben Barnes), survives an assassination attempt plotted by his scheming uncle, Miraz (Sergio Castellitto), the noble youth stumbles across Narnia’s exiled enchanted population, and decides to lead them in an uprising, aided by Peter, Susan, Edmund, and Lucy.<br><br>Considerably darker and more action-packed than THE LION, THE WITCH & THE WARDROBE, this 2008 sequel, once again directed by Andrew Adamson, is driven by the struggle between the Telmarines and the banished Narnians, resulting in many fierce battle sequences. While the newcomer Barnes and the established quartet of Moseley, Popplewell, Keynes, and Henley are all in fine form, CASPIAN is largely enhanced by its supporting cast, which includes indie mainstay Peter Dinklage as the dour dwarf Trumpkin and revered British comedian Eddie Izzard as the voice of the swashbuckling mouse Reepicheep. Also briefly reprising their roles from the previous film are Liam Neeson, as the voice of Aslan, and Tilda Swinton, as the White Witch, actors who bring their familiar personas to this engaging and entertaining second chapter in the NARNIA saga.

This perplexing, surreal French drama begins when a dutiful nurse, Genevieve, discovers a suicidal girl in the hospital one morning. She brings the girl, whose name is Celine, home with her and gradually becomes the girl’s caretaker. But their relationship becomes all the more powerful, and strange, when Genevieve discovers Celine is possessed with miraculous powers.

Though Oscar winner Morgan Freeman is best known for playing noble characters in films such as MILLION DOLLAR BABY and THE SHAWSHANK REDEMPTION, he goes over to the dark side for this thriller. John Cusack (1408) plays Ray Keene, a father who organizes a hiking trip so he can get closer to his son after his wife’s passing. But their vacation is interrupted by the arrival of a brutal hit man (Freeman), who will do anything to collect his fee as a contract killer. THE CONTRACT reunites Freeman with his DRIVING MISS DAISY director Bruce Beresford, who also directed the tense film DOUBLE JEOPARDY.