Local opening date: 1/5/2007
Reviewed by Martha Baker

Don't expect the ordinary with Little Children. Expect, instead, to be kept in tension, the kind symbolized by violins sawing away in the background. Expect, too, not to know where this is going. And that's the best part of Little Children: it's not predictable. In fact, the producers have asked critics not to give away the ending, but it isn't the ending that makes this movie what it is. It's the tense story, the quirky characters, the odd humor, the ironic voice of the narrator, the actors themselves.

Local Opening date: 8/17/2007
Reviewed by Martha K. Baker

Yes, the title of this French film is not Lady Chatterly's Lover because it's based on a short story by D. H. Lawrence, entitled "John Thomas and Lady Jane." This film is not based on his novel called Lady Chatterly's Lover. Lawrence's short story does not end the way the book does and the gamekeeper's name is Oliver Parkin, not Mellors, but the short story and the film keep most of the other elements.

Local opening date: 2/9/2007
Reviewed by Martha Baker

1978. That's the year that 900 people drank cyanide-laced Kool-Aid and died in Jonestown, Guyana. For many people, the ensuing 30 years has erased the details - all except for the references to the Kool-Aid, perhaps. However director Stanley Nelson and writer Marcia Smith have produced a documentary that will make it all terribly vivid again. Jonestown is a riveting film.

Local opening date: 7/20/2007
Reviewed by Martha K. Baker

This Australian movie ought to be a sprightly little movie. The plot, when told, holds some promise, but when executed, it's apparent that there's a big hole in the center.

Local opening date: 8/17/2007
Reviewed by Martha K. Baker

Oh, to find a film that isn't predictable, that is intelligent, that applauds good writing and trophy-winning acting. And that film is Interview. Surely, the strongest hand nudging this one along is Steve Buscemi's. He stars, he directed, and he co-wrote the film with Theodor Holman, and the result is controlled ambiguity.

Local opening date: 7/11/2007
Reviewed by Martha K. Baker

If you've read the six storybooks about Harry Potter, boy wizard, and seen the five films up to this point, then you know the bits surrounding our hero. You know about the warmth and luxury afforded the pupils at Hogwarts School for Wizards, unlike the cold and cruel lives at traditional English boarding schools. You know about the cold and cruel life that Harry leads while at home with the Dursleys, and you know about the owls and the mythic creatures in the forest, and the bolstering teaching faculty.

Local opening date: 7/20/2007
Reviewed by Martha K. Baker

About one-third of the way through most John Waters' movies, boredom sets it. By then the naughtiness has run its course, and the film becomes an exercise in tolerance just waiting for the end, because it usually picks up the movie's pace. The same thing happens to the musical version of Hairspray and now to the film version of Waters' 1988 movie.

Local opening date: 8/3/2007
Reviewed by Martha K. Baker

Anyone who knows anything about the artist Goya knows that he painted not only grand portraits on canvas of court personnel in Madrid but also etched the horrors of war on paper. Goya's Ghosts covers about 15 years in the history of Spain, including the Grand Inquisition by the Roman Catholic Church and the invasion by Napoleon at the turn of the 18th to the 19th century.

Local opening date: 1/12/2007
Reviewed by Martha Baker

As part of the genre of movies about dedicated white teachers who help people of color discover themselves, Freedom Writers is one of the best. It exploits tension and reality and balances sentiment with clarity.

Local opening date: 4/4/2007
Reviewed by Martha Baker

I left after the first half-hour of Firehouse Dog. I left when the titular canine began to, oh, dear, how do I put this delicately? Okay, when he began to deposit solid waste in the firehouse crew's stew.