I absolutely adored Noah Baumbach's last film The Squid and the Whale; it perfectly and realistically captured the drama of going through a divorce through a child's perspective. His first film Kicking and Screaming is a 90's classic, and very well sums up what it was like to be a young adult during that moment in time. So I was hoping and expecting more from Margot at the Wedding; a strangely unfocused film, with some very intense performances from Nicole Kidman and Jennifer Jason Leigh.

This film is much more of an actor's piece (it could have easily been made into play), than any kind of film-maker's exercise. Baumbach almost unconsciously points his hand-held camera in the direction of the actors, as they tear into these meaty dialogues about family, friends, faith and everything in-between. Margot, played with ice in her veins by Nicole Kidman, is a mother and semi-successful author. She and her teenage son have come to her childhood home to attempt to heal her relationship with her long estranged sister, played with bravado by Jennifer Jason Leigh. She's getting married to a pretentious, louse of a man; Jack Black in his most realistic role. Caught in the middle are the two teenage children, who try to escape the verbal assaults without too much adolescent trauma.

It's often painful and sometimes funny to watch these sisters converse with one another. One minute they're completely in love, best friends; the next they're practically tearing each other's eyes out; and they're constantly berating the other behind their backs, to anyone who has the misfortune of being at this disgrace of a wedding weekend. Both the women put on quite a show; one minute you love and feel for them, but a quick tongued barb later, there's nothing but contempt. Both are insanely bright about the world, but at the same time completely clueless of how to treat their friends and family. Baumbach's camera makes you feel like a member of this highly dysfunctional and well bred family.

Margot at the Wedding drops you off at this cold beach house for a dramatic weekend with a seriously messed up family; there's a lot of fighting and screaming, some awkward moments, a few painful laughs, and a bit of personal growth. The performances by the three leads and two kids make it worth watching, everyone is at the top of their game. Not a whole of of story is developed, it's not as funny as I was expecting, and it's not anywhere near totally satisfying, but ultimately it's an interesting film. - Grade: C+

The Invasion of the Body Snatchers in all its incarnations is one of my favorite sci-fi stories. I remember seeing the original on TV when I was a kid, it left a large impression on me, because it was the first time I'd ever seen a movie where the good guys lost. The 2nd one is also very good. The third one, made during the 90's;The Body Snatchers is good cheesy fun. The idea of our loved ones being taken over by something alien, their body still being there, but their mind belonging to somebody else, is a wonderful plot device; and it seems worthwhile to remake every 10 years or so, because there are constantly new generational themes you can attach to it.

In our age of terrorism and fear of disease, it only made sense for the filmmakers of The Invasion to bring those ideas into the fold. This time around, the body snatching affects are passed on by alien germs, brought to earth by a space shuttle exploded in the atmosphere. Instead of pods growing whole new bodies, it takes over like a nasty disease, after a night of morphing you wake up as an alien pawn.

Nicole Kidman is Carol, a psychologist and mother, whose ex-husband, a NASA spokesman is one of those first infected. When he suddenly has an interest in seeing their young son, after being absent for a while, she's suspicious, but obviously has no clue as to his true intentions. Her first touches with the new world reality come when one of her patients claims that her husband, isn't her husband. She blows it off at first, but after some online investigation, sees that this woman isn't alone in her feelings. She starts to notice people changing too, and has to get her son back immediately. Too the rescue comes handsome Dr. Ben, played by the always cool Daniel Craig.

They run around Washington D.C. while the whole world starts to fall apart around them. It's really fun to watch in the background for signs of weirdness, it's subtle at first, then begins to get more pronounced, and soon it's completely obvious that the aliens are in the majority. They have a bit of a twist in this version, by having the virus attack those in command first, so citizens will listen to the politicians and cops when told what to do. Eventually it's just Carol and her son running around in a constant state of fear, made worse by the fact, that she can't fall asleep because she fears she's infected.

The ending wraps up a little too neatly, my only major complaint with the film. But with it, comes some interesting questions. As the aliens are taking over, you'll see on the news, talks of peace treaties in the Middle East and hear from the aliens themselves about how everything is so much clearer. One of the new twists in this version, is that once you're taken over, you retain your memories and some of your personality, so family units stay intact; but mankind has one greater purpose, leading to world-wide peace and probably a better chance of survival. So what's the better option?

I read Phillip Pullman's His Dark Materials trilogy about seven years ago; they're incredible books, right up there with the other fantasy classics; Lord of the Rings and The Chronicles of Narnia. So it was natural that they'd make a film series.

I was excited when they began production; but also a little nervous, I heard that they were cutting away the religious overtones; and director Chris Weitz didn't give me the greatest confidence. He's a good comedy director; American Pie and About a Boy are personal favorites, but he'd never done anything near this scale. When I saw the trailer, it looked like they had done pretty well with their adaptation.

For the most part, a film will never match the impact of the book. But here with The Golden Compass, I must say that they did an excellent job and created a rip-roaring adventure. Most of the characters were portrayed well, especially Lyra, her daemon Pantalaimon, and Iorek Byrnison the Ice-Bear. They couldn't quite get across how deep that connection between a human and their daemon is; but it was extremely cool to see everyone walking around with their own animal spirit. That was one of my favorite things in the book, it made me wish I had my own daemon. It'd probably be a platypus.

The special effects were top-notch, they did a beautiful job creating this fantastic world. All the amazing vistas, the cool boats and air-ships, the daemons, and I really loved the Ice-Bears. You could fully believe in the intense battle between Iorek and Ragnar; it was extremely cool to watch, with a very satisfying and bloody ending. I also really dug how they visualized Lyra seeing into the compass.

The characters all looked just right; Lyra was a bright-radiant girl, her uncle Lord Asriel played in a small role by Daniel Craig oozed confidence, and Nicole Kidman got the icy-beauty of Ms. Coulter perfectly.

I'm bummed that the film was kind of a flop at the box office, it's not looking good for the sequels. And the way this film ends, it's begging for more. I was looking forward to meeting Lyra's new best friend Will in The Subtle Knife and things get really nuts in The Amber Spyglass, where they take a trip into Hell and battle God himself at the end. I'm not sure how they're going to keep the religious overtones out of that? If it's made at all.

On the surface everything was just right with The Golden Compass; they told the majority of the adventure, got the major characters right, and most importantly made a good film. As time goes on, I think that more people will discover the film and that will be loved by many. But to really appreciate the story, you have to read the books, to fully understand the connection between everything and everyone in this world. I think I'll revisit them very soon.