Culture

Even Bond is feeling the recession.Daniel Craig has that mysterious quality, that je ne sais quoi, that truly defines the James Bond character. This is a man who draws women effortlessly, kills efficiently and looks incredible in a tux.

James Bond has long been a cultural icon for masculinity at its best. Operating outside of the bounds of society, he is free from its restrictions, a man who protects the women, saves his country or often the world and does so with unparalleled style. Daniel Craig as James Bond, more than any other actor who has tackled the iconic role, brings a seriousness and enigmatic depth to Bond that makes the character even more fascinating.

Hot for teacher?The title Happy Go Lucky is kind of misleading. It implies a cutesy-fresh-feeling, sunshine approach to life, but it's far from cute-it's about real problems for real people and the ability to see the light at the end of the tunnel.
Central character Poppy (Sally Hawkins) maintains a positive outlook throughout the movie. Her bike is stolen near the beginning and her only lament is that she didn't get to say goodbye. Poppy's a 30ish, single, North London primary school teacher whose passion is going to pubs and bouncing on a trampoline. Poppy's a wiseacre, unable to stop joking and always putting a spin of hope and optimistic sarcasm on everything. It's a struggle for her to take things seriously, though her caring demeanor is never nauseatingly sweet. She drinks, hangs out, is accosted by life and shrugs it off as "things just happen, move on and have fun with life." She's almost nervously out of sync with the rest of the world. After the bike incident she decides to learn to drive. We then follow Poppy and the various people she encounters, focusing more on life lessons than getting all hung up in plot.

And that, boys, is why you wouldn’t last five minutes in Sturgis. In the recently ended political season, there was a comment much
dissected and analyzed having to do with lipstick on a pig. I am trying
hard to forget the context, but watching Role Models this unfortunate
image came roaring back at me.

I suspect Judd Apatow is responsible
in large part for the new comedy genre, which created the following
formula: relentless amounts of crudeness, the raunchier the better,
followed by an awakened heart, followed by a gauzy enlightenment. And
in capable hands, it works. You get potty humor and leave the theater
feeling good about the world. We're going to make it, man.

A temporary resurrection. Soul Men is Bernie Mac's last movie; that alone lends his portrayal of an over-the-hill backup soul singer an eerie undertone. Coupled with the passing of Isaac Hayes (playing himself), this comedy could prove a real tearjerker for some and there is a fitting tribute done via clips of interviews and outtakes during the ending credits. But the meat of the movie, which was directed by Malcolm D Lee, (Undercover Brother) is an old and simple story. Two old friends are reunited for one last hurrah, with some road trip hijinks mixed in.

Scissor sisters. I almost don't know what to say about this innocuous entry into the
thriller genre except that it's as about as mediocre as they come, as
generic as it gets, and predictable beyond a shadow of a doubt. My
first thought was proven to be true that any movie with "Haunting" in
the title and especially "the Haunting of…" is doomed from the get-go.
Just check out Internet Movie Database (IMDB.com) if you don't believe
me. This movie was so below my level of consciousness that it didn't
even have enough power to make me mad. I just sat there and so did the
movie.

The Haunting of Molly Hartley, follows, you guessed it, Molly
Hartley and her pesky haunting and does so as follows: Molly (Hayley
Bennett) is attending a new high school in a new place with just her
dad. He says "let's have a fresh start" at breakfast, foreshadowing
things might not go so well. They've moved to the same community as her
mother's mental health facility and soon Molly has headaches,
hallucinations and troubles all stemming from the fact that mom jabbed
a pair of scissors in her chest years ago and was put away. Molly is
basically haunted by her mom…constantly, via flashbacks and what seems
to be present day escape visits.