With all the talk about Joaquin Phoenix going nuts, we've forgotten about how talented an actor he is. And if he has gone off the deep end and truly retired from acting, which I don't believe for a second, his last film Two Lovers is a great swan song. This is his film. He's in every single scene, with hardly a shot in the film without him in it, and the film is that much better for it. The film opens with his character Leonard jumping into an icy river, trying to kill himself for yet unknown reasons. Sinking into the deep, he thinks better of it and lets somebody help pull him out. He walks home, where we meet his parents, an old Jewish couple, played lovingly by Isabella Rossellini and Moni Moshonov. Dad proudly owns a dry-cleaning business, which he expects Leonard to inherit.

Leonard is a sad soul, every movement of his comes with great pain, just breathing seems to be an effort. He brightens up a little when he meets a young woman Sandra, whose father has plans on going into business with Leonard's father. In a short scene in Leonard's bedroom, we see that he can be a little witty and charming when there's a cute girl to impress, but the sparks don't fly. He really comes alive when he meets Michelle, played wonderfully by Gwyneth Paltrow. She's gorgeous and interesting, Leonard is instantly infatuated. He does a bit of innocent stalking and they quickly become friends. It's soon clear that Michelle might be even more messed up than Leonard, but her problems only grows Leonard's attraction towards her. Meanwhile he's still seeing Sandra, who wants to take care of him, but he's only doing it to please their respective fathers. The film ends with a note perfect twist that leaves you very conflicted on how to feel.

Two Lovers is the best drama I've seen about love in a long time. There's no conflict in Leonard about who he wants to be with, but Michelle is seeing somebody else and his family wants him to marry Sandra, who seems to be the perfect fit. But his heart wants what it wants, even if she's emotionally unavailable. Phoenix plays Leonard perfectly, he's very quiet throughout, but you can read every emotion in his eyes. Sadly I don't often get drawn into films the way I should, but his anxiousness made me feel anxious, and I was squirming in my seat as the film approached its gut wrenching climax. This is a very quiet movie, with not a whole lot of plot development, just a lot of well written and performed conversations. The film feels absolutely real, as we follow Leonard through a confusing few weeks as his life comes to a crucial turning point. A really beautiful little film. - Grade: B+

I can’t believe that the whiny lead character from Swingers, ended up directing the biggest film of the summer. It’s amazing; and goes to show you never know what people’s hidden talents are. Jon Favreau, A guy who had limited range as an actor, is now one of the top directors in Hollywood, and after Iron Man, can have his pick of projects. But it’s well deserved, he showed great comedic timing with his Christmas film Elf, made a better version of Jamanji with Zathura, and shows he has an adept talent with action in Iron Man. I was really surprised by how well rounded the film is, and I think that’s why it connected with audiences so well. We’ve become so sick of the mindless action scenes and huge explosions, that when there’s a character to connect to behind it, it becomes much more enjoyable.

A lot of the success of Iron Man also goes to Robert Downey Jr.. Always a talented actor, but with his drug problem over the years, was never given a chance to really shine in a lead role in a huge film. With Tony Stark, the weapons designer billionaire, who becomes Iron Man, he gets a character with a bit of an arc, something sort of rare in the superhero realm. He starts off as the ultimate playboy, bedding any beautiful women he wants, driving his elite sports car, to his futuristic mansion in the hills of L.A., but when he’s caught as a prisoner of war, and gets to see what happens when his weapons are used for evil, his mission in life changes, and he becomes Iron Man.

It’s great to watch him actually pound out the metal, in the catacombs of a terrorist hive, and then his genius to build the ultimate weapon, which he uses to escape. Once back home, with the best technology in the world at his fingertips, he builds an even better version, one which can fly at supersonic speeds. They take enough time and caring in building up to the end version of Iron Man that you can believe in him flying around, taking on military jets, and possibly even surviving the brain crushing G-forces of some of his maneuvers. Once the real bad-guy reveals himself, and it’s about as surprising as Jeff Bridges' head is shiny, it’s great fun to watch Iron Man battle it out with an even bigger version of his weapon.

The film has some really great casting, Downey, especially; he’s charming, funny, handsome, but most of all he brings a humanity to this superhero. I think it’s the best casting ever for a superhero, and without him, Iron Man wouldn’t have been the same film. I also really dug Gwyneth Paltrow, as Pepper Potts, his long time assistant and forbidden love interest. They have great chemistry together, and Gwyneth gets to use some of that movie star shine, that she’s been hiding for the last few years. Terrance Howard is good as Col. Rhodes, the guy who always does everything by the book. And it was particularly fun to watch Bridges as the industrialist bad guy; you could tell he relished in playing something besides the sensitive man-child roles he's had since The Big Lebowski.

Ultimately Iron Man proves how great of a director Farveau is. He adeptly mixes, humor, romance, drama and huge action scenes together, actually making it feel like one organic film. So often these scenes clash together in these huge action films, either the humor or the drama doesn’t work, and we’re stuck watching carelessly as things blow-up around the heroes we don’t care about. Here we’re laughing at Tony Stark one minute, falling in love with Pepper Potts the next, then flying off to the middle east to blow away terrorists and actually caring about the people that Iron Man is saving. The film has a mixed message, condemning weapons, then wowing us with the huge battles, but that’s about the only true problem with the film. It’s not a perfect film, some of the scenes are unnecessary or drag on for too long, but for a huge summer blockbuster about a superhero, it’s a refreshing change of pace. The film is well thought out and superbly put together, with some actual care for the characters and the audience that is watching. – Grade: B+

This movie is going to be tough for me to review. I've been creating a film with a very similar plot in my head for over 5 years. If I ever get a chance to make that film, it will turn out very different from The Good Night, but I don't want anyone thinking that I stole the core idea from this film. Being selfish about my idea, I hope that this film never gets wide exposure, but it's an interesting film that deserves to be seen, so I also have to recommend it.

The Good Night is about Gary, a deeply unhappy man. He's a musician who's sold out his artistic sensibilities to create music for commercials. He lives with his girlfriend Dora; in the opening scene you get a good sense of their relationship, they're simply brushing their teeth together, but instantly you can tell there's tension in their relationship, she's irritated by him standing in front of the sinking, he's irritated by her pushing her way in just as he's about to spit. When they say "I love you" before turning the lights off, you can tell the words have lost all meaning.

Sleep is Gary's only reprieve. He hates his job, he's miserable at home. His mind begins to build an escape for him through his dreams. Night after night he dreams about the same woman, played by the gorgeous Penélope Cruz, she's the perfect woman, everything he wants that he's not getting in the real world. He becomes obsessed with his sleep, making all sorts of changes to his routine to sleep better. Every time he wakes up, he's completely pissed, he doesn't doesn't want to leave this girl of his dreams. When Dora leaves for an extended trip, he gets far worse, covering his walls with soundproofing, and befriending Mel a lucid dream expert. Mel, played with world-weariness by Danny Devito, teaches him how to better control his dreams.

Things get weirder when he discovers that the girl of his dreams exists in the real world. His best friend, played by the always funny Simon Pegg, an ad executive sets up a meeting for Gary with this girl who's a model in real life. Besides looking exactly alike, the women don't have much in common and things don't turn out the way you might expect. The Good Night, isn't a typical romantic comedy, it's much darker, and besides the out-there premise, much more representative of true relationships.