Seven is one of those movies that looks spooky and creepy and like you've got to see it, when you see the trailers for it - but then you just know when you actually see it that it's going to be disappointing.

This one isn't.

"Seven" is an awesome film - but not one for the squeamish.

Morgan Freeman and Brad Pitt are paired together in what is ostensibly a tour de force for both of them.

Freeman is a cop a week away from retirement. Transferring in from a cushy precinct is detective Brad Pitt. He wants to experience police work in the gritty city. He gets his wish - and how!

Pitt's first day in the new precinct sees the discovery of the first murder in a serial killer's sick mind. Freeman wants out, because he knows that the killings are going to continue and he wants to retire on time. Pitt wants to go for the gusto.

Ultimately they work together to solve the murders, each more gruesome than the last. While the murders are truly horrific, David Fincher really doesn't show us everything that he could, though he does show us a lot. Our minds simply fill in the gaps and it's enough to make you reel from the thoughts.

Fincher piles on the symbolism in this film. Red is used to symbolize death and each time we see it we know someone is going to die or has just died. It rains constantly throughout the film, exemplifying the confusion and horror of the case. Sunlight is revealed at the ending of the film when we and the detectives are to be enlightened to the killer and his motives.

Whether it was the actor or the producers who made the following decision, it was a stupendously wise one: the actor portraying the killer is not listed among the opening credits. Too often filmmakers make the mistake of revealing the name of the actor or the face of a well known actor portraying a killer in a film, only to have that action allow the audience to "know" who the killer is from the beginning of a good mystery (such was the case in the film "Copy Cat" - which owe's its box office to "Seven" incidentally).

Seven is David Fincher's finest film to date. Although he made films before and has made films since, he hasn't been able to get the same lightning in the bottle that he did with "Seven".

You really must see this horrifying thriller to believe it! But whatever you do, don't watch it for the first time while you are alone at night - you won't be able to sleep for days!

This is the first John Saul novel I've ever read. I hope his others aren't this formulatic and drawn out, only to reveal a disappointing conclusion.

The story is one that, sadly, has been done over and over again in print AND on film. Anne Jeffers, ace reporter, watches serial killer Richard Kraven, whom she helped convict, die in the electric chair. At almost the same time, thousands of miles away, Anne's husband suffers a massive heart attack. Dead for over two minutes, Glen Jeffers recovers, but his personality is just never the same.

The gruesome murders attributed to Richard Kraven start all over again - four years after his incarceration. Who can be the killer? Is there an accomplice? Are these copy cat murders? Who can say?

Unfortunately, anyone who's ever seen the movie "Fallen" or an old 1980's horror film (the name of which escapes me now), knows what has happened.

Saul throws a few mugafins our way, but to anyone experienced in reading a variety of books can see right through the fluff.

The most disappointing aspect of the book is that the ending feels thrown together. It's as if Saul had a specific number of pages that he had to supply to his publisher, and he didn't want to go below or above that number. In short, the book just sort of ends. It's not satisfying.

The police in this book are more bumbling than the team that investigated the Jean Benet Ramsay case in Colorado. They haven't investigated all their leads and the proof that Kraven was the serial killer is never really fleshed out. The central characters don't act believably and the trains of thought displayed don't follow a logical flow.

And when was the last time you heard of a convicted murderer on death row being executed within four years of his incarceration? Four decades maybe - four years - never!

I wanted to like this book, because the writing wasn't bad as a whole. Sure, it was a pulp novel - I knew it would be - but it wasn't poorly written - just poorly thought out and executed.

I love New Orleans. I used to like reading Ann Rice (one of New Orleans' celebrated writers), then her stuff got too bizarre (Egyptian vampires? Please!). But this book intrigued me. I thought the characters were a bit thinly drawn, but I felt that they were well thought out. I could identify them and often relate to them. Yes, it was somewhat predictable, but not always. In short, it's got its good points and bad points, but on the whole, I'd recommend it. It's good fun reading and quite believable. I think Christopher Rice is a much better writer than his mother. He shows real potential to be a good writer. We'll just have to see......

The Blair Witch Project is a film of sheer genius! Let me qualify that statement: Jim Jones was a genius; the Enron scam was genius; and many others.

I was prompted to go see this film because of a very engaging and ingenious Sci Fi Channel program (which I later realized was a one hour commercial for the film). The one hour program was scary and interesting. The film was anything but.

The Blair Witch Project tells the "true" story of a group of twenty somethings who go investigate the legend of the Blair Witch in some remote part of Massachussetts or Maryland. Using nothing but video cameras, the fimmakers intent was to give the film a raw and documentary feel to it and then go so far as to promote it as being a real film - the last film by this group of students - as they are supposedly killed by the Blair Witch.

The video cameras used jump around so much that I became quite queasy watching the film. The scripted dialogue (yes, it was actually scripted) is cheap and amateur. The climax of the film is such a ridiculous thing that it is amazing that it did the business it did. And, boy, did it do business.

I can remember leaving the theater and overhearing a girl, sobbing her eyes out, talking about how horrible it must have been for those people to die like that, and how someone should do something so that no one ever has to die like that again.

I laughed my head off at that. And then I got angry. I got angry that anyone could be so monumentally stupid as to believe the ridiculous story that had just been portrayed on screen. But then I comforted myself that most people are that stupid and to this date there was no law against stupidity - even though there should be.

Laughably bad and ridciulous!

City by the Sea was a film I was busting to see. It has some of the best actors out there today. However, it was my misunderstanding of the film that made it disappointing. I thought it was supposed to be a thriller or an action flick. It's not. It's a drama. As such, I was a bit disappointed after the film ended, but then in retrospect, realizing what it is - I've come to accept that it is really a decent film.

DeNiro is always great. McDormand is excellent in a small part. Franco is sympathetic at times and repulsive at others - it's exactly what he should be. Patty Lupone is right on as usual.

However....the script, while good, is really no better than the best of Law and Order episodes, which this could have ostensibly been. The difference is the actors in it. The actors make this film worth watching and paying to see them do it.

I kept expecting some really neat car chases and explosions. I got none of them.

So while I enjoyed this film, because the acting is really top notch, it wasn't the whole meal I was expecting. It was much more reminiscent of an old 1970's cop drama on TV or the current crop of Law and Order episodes.

Watch this film for the supurb acting, but don't expect any real excitement. It's just not that kind of film.

I saw Caligula when it was first in theaters. It was one of those movies that all my friends said we had to see, because it was so controversial. Controversial it is. Good it is not.

I've heard through the years that Sir John Gilgud did not know that the part he was playing would be in a film showing explicit sexual acts and degredation. I find this hard to believe, given the producer of the film - it was Penthouse magazine.

That said, Caligula is dull, dull, dull. It is only the scenes of horror and sexual predation that make this film rise above the sublimely mind numbing - and that's really sad.

You know you're going to watch it, because you're curious, but just know this: after you watch this repugnant film, if you're anything like me, you'll want to bathe afterward. It's really a creepy gross film.

The Blood on Satan's Claw is an odd little British film. In 1970, Hammer Films was still king of British Horror. Along comes UA Britain and produces this unique film from apparently original material.

It's the late 1600's or early 1700's in the British countryside. While plowing his fields, a farmer unearths a bizarre looking skull - it is neither human nor animal. Times being what they are, the farmer is convinced it is demonic (he will be proved correct). The farmer goes to the town magistrate and emplores him to come see the skull. Of course, the skull is gone. Then the wierdness really begins. Floorboards move. Hair grows on people where it shouldn't - and overnight! An animal's furry claw appears where a man's hand should be. Then the children in the village begin acting oddly and following a beautiful young girl named Angel, who is anything but.

The Blood on Satan's Claw is not the most linear of films. It has its gaps. That's not to say this isn't a good film - because it is. It has a very intense feel to it and I can remember as a child watching this film and having nightmares for nights afterward. As with even the worst of Britain's period films, this film is very high on mood and the acting is quite good.

I believe when released, this received Britain's X rating (which is the equivalent of our R rating). However, that was over thirty years ago and times and ratings are different. By today's standards this film would receive a PG rating, since it has only a modicum of blood and a bit of female flesh, but no four letter words.

I encourage you to check this film out and see if you don't want to sleep with the lights on.

Look up the word "sleeper" in the dictionary and you should see a reference to "My Big Fat Greek Wedding". I love films like this. They just sort of creep up on you. I had heard that it was a good film when it first came out, but being a guy, I thought I'd wait until it came to DVD. Then, I started hearing that it was staying in the theaters, in fact it was starting to be shown on more and more screens. What kind of a movie gets wide release that way? And better yet, I was hearing that this was no "Blair Witch Project." This film was actually good. It had style, substance, and legs! I decided to go check it out for myself. The film had been showing for six months when I finally made it to the cinema. Let me tell you, there wasn't an empty seat in the house - and it was a typically poor film viewing time - it should have been a ghost town!

Enough of the hype - how about the substance? Dynamite!

Nia Vardalos is spot on perfect. I don't know if she has any stellar prospects beyond this film, but if that is true - what a one hit wonder she will have been!

Guys - you may think this is a chick flick - but it isn't! It is a really great, funny romp through the trials and tribulations of getting to know your girlfriend's/fiance's/whatever's family before getting married.

I've heard there are Greeks who've taken offense to this film. They say it makes fun of them. Grow up and get over yourself. That's what humor is! It's poking fun at yourself. Since Vardalos is Greek, she is fully capable of making these observations. I'm German-English, so I can make jokes about the same. Besides, people have become entirely too sensitive in these insensitive times.

So what's it about? What do you think? Greek ugly duckling finds Mr. Right, Mr. Right isn't Greek, Greek family scrutinizes him. That's it. But oh, so much more!!

Rent, or buy this thing immediately!!

I have had friends tell me how fabulous this series is. I've read reviews of how fantastic it is. I don't get HBO, so I rented the DVD of the first season. I don't see what all the fuss is about.

Six Feet Under is a series about the lives of the family members of a small family owned funeral home - Fischer and Sons. The neer-do-well prodigal son, the secretly gay younger son, the lonely, lost teenaged daughter, the sad, unhappy wife, and the deceased patriarch, whom it turns out no one really knew much about.

The show begins each episode interestingly enough - someone dies in some odd way and ends up at the funeral home. The person's death in some way becomes associated with the overall story in a convoluted morality tale for the family.

The acting is just fine and the scripts are good as well. I just don't get the point of the show. CSI is a show about crime scene investigation that gives us the gory details of crimes and the science in solving them. Crossing Jordan is a night-time soap slipped in under the premise of a crime investigation show. Six Feet Under is a night-time soap that is set in a funeral parlor - nothing more.

Dynasty, Dallas, and Falcon Crest were larger than life night-time soaps that reveled in their extravagance. Six Feet Under is really quite pedestrian. It's nothing terriby interesting - it just has an interesting setting. It's an American funeral parlor version of Eastenders, without the fun.

I think I'll stick to CSI for a good thrill ride on TV and leave the soaps to the HBO subscribers.

Xanadu is a hard film to review, because, as a movie, it is a terrible piece of dreck. As a music video it works just fine and even succeeds immensely at times.

Originally conceived as a disco movie, the producers decided to cash in on the popularity - at the time - of roller skating, so they made the movie - at the last minute - a roller disco film. Throw in Olivia Newton John and Gene Kelly and you've got: DISASTER!

The plot of the film is so transparently thin that it falls apart several times throughout. The dialogue is so agonizingly bad that even Gene Kelly (a man not known for his acting but his dancing) must have been embarrassed by it.

As the male romantic lead, a little known actor by the name of uh, just a minute I'll think of it.....was cast on the heels of his turn in the highly successful fantasy gang film: The Warriors. Michael Beck (the actor's name) can't act, can't sing, and can't dance...... so he was cast in the lead of a musical? Huh?

Newton John plays a Muse (of the old Greek mythology variety) who comes to life off of a wall painting - why we just don't know. She decides to glom onto Michael Beck's character (an architect who wants to create the most fabulous nightclub ever - Xanadu). And that, folks, is the plot of the movie. Oh, that, and apparently John's Muse was once the inspiration for Gene Kelly's character back in WWII. Huh?

Anyway, if it weren't for the producers wisely employing Electric Light Orchestra, The Tubes, and Newton-John, then this would have been insufferably bad. As it is, the movie has some really fantastic moments of musical fun. There's an interesting mixture of styles when The Tubes performs with a pseudo-swing band from the 1940's. Then there are Newton-John's songs throughout, which were orchestrated by ELO. The title song is possibly the most fun because it is where Newton-John met her former husband Matt Lattanzi (he was a dancer in the sequence). However the sequence employs the whole roller disco thing (not terribly effectively) and feels forced and just looks terrible!

However, as I said earlier - Xanadu works as an extended music video - something that was not in true existence at the time - it would happen about a year later on MTV.

Xanadu was made in the very late 1970's and released in 1980 and just happened to hit theatrers when disco was becoming reviled and New Wave was the latest sensation. Also by 1980 roller disco was VERY passe. Xanadu laid a big old egg (although I've read that it did fairly well at the box office on Newton-John's Grease fame and general popularity alone).

Get the DVD and select the song chapters and you'll have a great time watching this. Don't bother actually watching the film.