Director: Joel & Ethan Coen Running Time: 105 minutes Rated: R This is a review from the London Film Festival.  This film is currently playing in theaters in the US. Bad luck.  Karma.  Fate.  The wrath of the god(s).  These are just a few of the basic terms that the human race has used to try and signify those terrible happenings that befall them whether it ranges from the trivial, such as that one morning Joe cannot find his keys and runs late for work, to the traumatic, where Sue makes a wrong turn and is stranded in the middle of the forest alone with no supplies.  It really is a... 

Director: Michael Bay Running Time: 150 Minutes Rated: PG-13 For: Michael Bay and Transformers fans Not for: Methodical action enthusiasts In 2007, Michael Bay took on the challenge of making the Transformers cartoon series into a live action reality and was a runaway success, guaranteeing that a sequel would be coming to a theater near everyone.  2009 has arrived and brings forth Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, a sequel that trumps its predecessor in bringing bigger robots, a slightly longer running time, and more action.  If that’s all one needs to verify before going to see the film,... 

Director: Sam Mendes Running Time: 98 Minutes Rated: R For: Those that enjoy skit-by-skit, act-by-act progressive comedies, Audiences that want to watch something a bit more offbeat Not For: Slapstick romantic comedy enthusiasts, Impatient viewers Many people associate words with different locations.  For instance, the first image that appears in most minds when they hear Southern California is sunshine.  Another example is the wind with Chicago and so on.  Director Sam Mendes plays on this interesting idea of word association to a much deeper extreme, wrapped around a romantic comedy genre... 

This film will have a limited release on July 17th. Director: Marc Webb Running Time: 95 Minutes Rated: PG-13 For: Viewers looking for a film with a variety of creative approaches to a romantic comedy Not For: Those looking for simple, laugh-out-loud humor 500 Days of Summer “lies” to the audience (twice) in its first opening act.  The first states that the story about to be seen is not a happy, romantic tale.  On quite the other hand, the film still is fairly content and completely about the notion of love.  The second is that the film misleads the viewers to believe that the narrative... 

Director: Todd Phillips Running Time: 100 Minutes Rated: R For: Those looking for raunchy/simple humor Not for: Anyone looking for a unique or different approach to the Vegas/road trip genre “It was the best of times.  It was the worst of times.” As much as it sounds like a line out of A Tale of Two Cities, this actually well refers to everyone’s fond memories of Las Vegas.  Nights of debauchery, public drunkenness, casinos, strip clubs, etc. are just a few of the typical stereotypes people associate with sin city.  Films have always used Vegas as a backdrop for many different activities... 

Director: McG Rated: PG-13 *Note: This film releases on May 21st For: Terminator and Sam Worthington fans; Those looking for a good post-apocalyptic action film Not for: Those seeking innovations and originality in the sci-fi genre The heavy bass and percussion anthem of Terminator is iconic, stemming from the imagination of James Cameron and his take on the conspiracy theory of machines versus humans.  The first two movies in the series were fantastic representations of gritty sci-fi mixed with some good action and drama along with revolutionary special effects.  The third, however, was a ho-hum... 

Yes…it is a bit late.  Trying to catch up on almost every major film is a tough act without proper credentials/passes but still, 2008 was a great year for films.  Although it might have been true that some of the big blockbusters did not deliver, there was a film for everyone from the casual viewer to the film enthusiast if one looked hard enough.  Interestingly, there were a lot of film adaptations from plays this year, along with a much more ambitious lineup in terms of genres and character studies.  Of course, there were many films that did not make the list but are still engaging and...