WALK THE LINE

Theater: Century Theaters Hilltop, Pinole, California

The first thing that strikes you after you see this movie (or read any review or synopsis of it) is how similar it is to Ray. And how everyone is talking about Joaquin Phoenix maybe pulling off what Jamie Foxx did last year: an Oscar nod, and maybe even a win.

1. Both Johnny Cash and Ray Charles suffered childhood tragedies. Tie, 1-1.
2. Johnny Cash is healthy, but Ray Charles goes blind. Point Charles, 1-2.
3. Both Cash and Charles get addicted to drugs. Tie, 2-3.
4. Both Cash and Charles fall in love. Tie, 3-4.
5. Cash has a supporting cast of Elvis, Harry Lee Louis, and Roy Orbison; Charles has Quincy Jones. Point Cash, 4-4.

As you can see, the numbers speak for themselves; the movies are not too dissimilar. But I would argue that while Ray is much more a personal struggle and about a man and his music, Walk the Line is much more a romance between Cash and June Carter, and for that reason would have to be the stronger film for it.

But like Ray, after you're done watching, you'll swear you were watching the artist himself on the screen, and not some actor. The acting/makeup/costuming/singing is that good.

See it if - Ray only fulfilled half of your depressing/uplifting movie quota; you're addicted to biopics; you prefer country to soul.
Rent it if - you don't have to see it in time to cast a vote for a union, guild, association, or academy.

HARRY POTTER AND THE GOBLET OF FIRE

Theater: Grauman's Chinese Theater, Hollywood, California

I refuse to read any of the Harry Potter books until I can buy them all in a neat little paperback boxed set ... something about keeping order on the bookshelf.

So I was surprised when watching the newest installment, the series showed it's first narrative hiccups. Plotlines were left unraveled, the obvious important things Harry could have said were left unspoken, and it seemed the most disjointed of any of the four films. Far from the lean mechanics of Azkaban, this installment seemed like it needed a trimming more than anything else.

The characters and the actors who they got to play them are excellent: MadEye Moody is creepy, and Voldemort is downright evil even behind all that makeup. The effects are spectacular too. But it seems that the details of the novel's plot were lost in translation. Whereas before whole plotlines were left out, the current writer seemed to think that leaving frayed ends of a few minor plots in the novel intact would heighten the experience. Maybe if I had read the book and knew what to expect, it would have. But those details only confuse an audience without any prior knowledge of the plot outside the realm of the previous films.

See it if - you dress up like a character to go see movies like this.
Rent it if - you need a refresher on what happens before Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix comes out.

ZATHURA

Theater: Pacific's the Grove, Hollywood, California

Imagine Jumanji in space.

Now think ... did you like Jumanji?

If the answer is no ... then maybe you'll like the science fiction take more than the safari adventure original.

If the answer is yes ... then this is probably more of the same enjoyable fare.

Two bickering brothers are left home alone with a sister who isn't watching them, and they find a game ... that takes them into outer space, through meteor showers, encounters with an astronaut, alien invaders, and a malfunctioning robot.

Dialogue nuggets like, "Get me a juice box, biotch," are few and far between, but it's a fun movie for the whole family ... or you and your date ... or just you, but why would you see a movie like this alone?

See it if - you enjoyed Jumanji enough to give that idea another shot; you think after Elf you need to see every Jon Favreau film now.
Rent it if - you have too many kids to take out to the movies; it brings back traumatic childhood memories of space travel too vividly on the big screen.

JARHEAD

Theater: Grauman's Chinese Theater, Hollywood, California

Seeing a military-themed movie while being in the military, friends undoubtedly come up and ask, "Is that what it's really like?"

I'm not a Marine, I'm not a sniper, and I didn't enlist.

But sure, I bet there's plenty of truth to some things in the movie.

Working my way through the book right now, I'm not sure how good a job they did adapting memoir to film, but the movie certainly brings over the sense of "train hard, play hard" and the bravado found in combat units.

Where others find it disjointed and non-narrative, I find it refreshing. It is more of a memoir translated into film than it is a memoir turned into a narrative film. Life is disjointed, random, and unpredictable. Sometimes I find the small vignettes offer more insight into a character than drawn out plotlines and monologues.

The film looks great and brings with it the sense of desolate expanse that a desert can be. I suggest it to anyone who wants to see what modern war was like ... when it was "modern" over a decade ago.

See it if - you like war movies; you like Marines; you like seeing things blow up.
Rent it if - you have a sound system to jam the instrumental "Jesus Walks" with in your home.