As a sweet bite of blaspemy this Kevin Smith stinker may do fine, supported by a star-studded cast and a crunchily inventive premise to sink our collective teeth into the heart of Catholicism.

But it is amusing to see a horde of reviewers call this clever and thoughtful. Sorry folks, the film's troop of eccentric characters do very little to bail it out of its convoluted ramble about theology.

When it comes to intellectual muck-raking, the film with its doozy "loophole" simply drowns under the weight of diminishing returns. Religion is not an intellectual exercise, it's role is to fulfill spiritual, psychological and emotional needs in our lives. A person needs his world to make some sense to them, and religion can comfort with answers that science can not yet provide.

If on the other hand you're game for some tongue-in-cheek degenerative humor (for example, giant monsters of bubbling human excrement) sure, this may be right up your alley. Just make sure you have plenty of time as the circus goes on for a while.

Don't let the aristocratic costumes deceive you, this is not a story of stifling high-teas consumed in opulent drawing rooms! It's a deliriously enjoyable comedy with colorful dashes of shady plots and mischievous romances.

While a good deal of the wickedly whimsical adaptation of Oscar Wilde's play derives from antics that're suited to stage farces -- switched letters, mistaken identities, farcical blackmailing & ensuing intrigue -- it is ultimately a very, very witty and fast-paced comedy that you'll see more than once, quite likely back to back.

Rupert Everett is the heart and soul of the film, the screen positively crackles when he is on screen delivering his spate of one-liners. Julianne Moore is equally vibrant, if only in a more ascerbic skin. Cate Blanchett, Minnie Driver and Jeremy Northam round out the splendid cast that'll have you hooked.

Despite its maniacal exterior, the movie couches a virtuous message and a beautiful heart. An ingenious gem that your collection is incomplete without.

Take a controversial character, for instance, an infamous French aristocrat who writes fearlessly explicit pornographic tales from his asylum jail cell to which he has been consigned for committing violent crimes of passion.

Cast a maniacal Geoffrey Rush in that role, and use him with more than a pinch of artistic license, to philosophically discuss censorship and freedom of expression in art. Tipped in water-tight dialogue and a dramatically dark ink.

Throw in some action and intrigue, for example, our incarcerated prisoner having to smuggle his lurid works out of the asylum via a sweet, innocent maid who gains vicarious pleasure from reading the stories to self and others.

Of course, a dash of morality never hurt, so add a holier-than-thou priest who brings to the table a fresh aroma of common sensibility.

Stir well and add spice to taste. Viewers will revel in the mind play between the sordid characters you have created and be aghast at the depths to which it is possible for them to stoop. There, you have a marvel of a film that'll be seen again and again.

Quills is without reservations a fascinating cinematic masterpiece of our time, in every sense of the word, and deserves a warm place in every self-respecting film collection.

Not sure why this album has attracted so many negative reviews. For people who are into classical jazz, or into having some creative fun with popular numbers (e.g., Alanis Morisette taking "Let's Do It, Let's Fall In Love" for a spin), this is a fairly enjoyable compilation.

From Natalie Cole's heart wrenching "Every time we say goodbye", to the nasal cover opener by Robbie Williams "It's De-Lovely", to a smattering of out-of-tune but cheeky renditions from, er, Kevin Kline (!) -- the album is a very good buy for what it is worth.

Of course the songs will mean more if you actually see the movie itself, which may make even pseudo-plaintive croonings of Ashley Judd in "In the Still of the Night" come alive with sentiment. I recommend it to be quite an enjoyable album if you know that you're stepping into unusual singers having fun with jazz, perfectly reflecting the intent of the movie it was set together for.

Let's see. A mesmerizing Mickey Rourke in his element. A brief but blood-curdling cameo from DeNiro sporting overgrown fingernails, dark flowy suits and a baritone drawl. A starkly bold turn from the beautiful Lisa Bonnet who exudes sexual abandon..

Cut to the chase, Angel Heart is a riveting psychothriller with cojones. It absolutely boggles me, then, why this is not the cult classic that it so richly deserves to be!

What begins as a fairly innocuous sleuthing adventure quickly takes on the contours of a supernatural drill, replete with mythological and biblical symbolism, as our private-eye discovers the true nature of his horrifying engagement.

Trevor Jones' riveting score and Parker's immaculate direction could be some of the reasons why this grand nightmare lingers in your thoughts long after the credits have rolled, but whatever the motivation, I highly recommend getting a hold of this classic with an unforgettable twist.

In his typical scattered narrative, von Trier crafts a hypnotic tale of an American in the post-WWII rubble of Germany, as he gets entangled with a stunning local woman. Problem is, the woman is revealed to have been a dangerous operative during the war with far-from-simple roots.

Sounds like a fairly comprehensible theme to wrap a thriller around, but no, not under the sly lens of von Trier! His screenplay copiously employs his characteristic symbolism, effortlessly morphing between black & white and technicolor, using double-exposures, backprojections, and some fascinating trick photography such as superimpositions.

The resulting murky, obscure atmosphere of psychological disorientation may lead a casual viewer to much the same frustrations as the film's protagonist -- of never quite finding a footing in the surrealistic, trancy goings-on.

But if you prefer ambitious enigmas to lacklustre boxoffice hits, then give this truly challenging film a chance.

What a dazzlingly engaging experimentation with the medium of film as we take an evocative peep into the life of a showbiz-obsessed director Fosse -- the hedonistic man behind the actual stage version of "Chicago."

Apart from being a truly sexy turn-on of a musical, it hits one out of the park as an exploration of an artist at war with himself. Somewhat indulgent, yes, but it is the brutally honest potrayal of the many imperfections (girls, gin, glitz) of a perfectionist, in all his triumphs and trials, that makes this film a very, very endearing experience.

The bleak undertones may scare the faint-hearted but for them there's all the riveting stage action. A wholesome film that belongs in your own collections, not just in your Blockbuster records.

Bad Santa has many crass gags, it almost drags you into a dark alley of tasteless humour and thrashes you up. Imagine Billy Bob Thorton in a comic lead role, tough to visualize. But the man is bloody hilarious! Some parts are better scripted than others, but for a film that's so determined NOT to have a heart, it does surprise you with one. A wonderfully perverse treat that goes by in a flash, so it can't be all that bad any way. Recommended!

I'm amazed a film like this could sweep awards at Cannes, or any festival. The camera floats around an ordinary school, tracking students' lives, nothing special, your average day stuff, in what seemed like a thinly veiled take on the Columbine tragedy of school shootings.

There are no good guys and bad guys, every character is made sympathetic simply by being real, by being himself, by being human. This includes the two weirdos who go on a rampage, who played violent video games (like most teenagers) and watched documentaries on Hitler with rapt attention. Not sure if this was an implied cause, or just a nonchalant and thus somehow artistic trope.

That's it. That's the plot. One of the "spotlight reviews" on this site mentions how the lack of a point was in fact the point. Well that's good for life but capturing life as-is on film, without any perspective or any cinematic accoutrement at all, is a bit pointless if not outright stupid.

"Elephant" seems like a deliberately point-of-view-less film, much like its title, which has nothing to do with anything in the movie.

So if you, like the French, have a taste for a sequence of screens that do not necessarily need to hinge around a semblance of a theme or purpose, you'll be in entertainment heaven. Grab your six packs and discuss motives and perspective and all those lovely film theory things long into the sunset.

For the rest of us, thank god there's a 16x skip functionality on my DVD that's like a fast forward on steroids, or better still, there are a billion other more interesting + intelligent ways to waste time.

With some staggery candid camerawork and next-to-none minimalistic soundtrack, which is no doubt rather demanding on the senses, The Son manages to lay a gruelling texture of moral dilemma and the intrigue that goes with it.

Olivier Gourmet plays a carpenter, with an uncanny ability to judge the metric distance between any two points on a board, perhaps a metaphor for his character's moral precision. (I have never seen Gourmet before, but if wins awards, I will know exactly why.)

This carpenter develops a liking to a younger apprentice. It's eventually revealed that this liking is linked to a tragedy in the past, that continues to cast a pall over several of the film's characters. I will not not dilvulge the exact nature of that tragedy, that'd spoil the enigma, but the film is relentless in outlining its ramifications -- the angst, guilt, confusion, and how the carpenter finds himself both drawn to and repulsed by the youngster.

The overall ambience of the film may be bleak and murky, but its pervasive human spirit is very rewaring for all the patience it demands. Not recommended for casual filmgoers, but a very meditative example of arthouse for the more discerning eye.