The Transporter (IMDB) (Netflix)
OK, let's go slumming. Jason Stathan (from Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels and Snatch) is the ex-special forces operator and titular courier of sensitive cargo who violates one of his three self-imposed rules, "Don't Open the Package," and unleashes a Pandora's box of complications that, ah, drives the movie to its conclusion.

"Drive" might be a little generous. The first half is promising, with a decent chase scene through Nice, a damsel in distress with moxie and a we're-not-taking-ourselves-too-seriously puckishness. It all goes pear-shaped, however, when at the end of Act Two, the screenwriter apparently chucked the typewriter at the stunt coordinator and said "My work here is done. Bring it home, Philippe." The girl's role is reduced to squealing in the back seat of Daddy's car and Stathan's character, bucking to be the British Jackie Chan, bores through a panoply of Euro-thugs with mind-numbing ease.

Martial arts buffs might get off on this one, but few others.

Red Dragon (IMDB) (Netflix)
The prequel to Silence of the Lambs and Hannibal, and a remake of Manhunter. Anthony Hopkins returns as Dr. Lecter, with Edward Norton as the former FBI agent pulled back into the profiling harness. This time Ralph Fiennes (the commandant in Schindler's List) is the psycho, and Emily Watson is a blind woman who unwittingly befriends him.

"Dragon" starts fast and steadily rachets up the squirm factor, and Hopkins is as creepy as ever, but what distinguishes it from the rest of the series is the relationship between Fiennes and Watson, which generates a host of strong emotions. The last big scene will be anticipated by many, but is fresh enough that it works.

Moonlight Mile (IMDB) (Netflix)
We open with parents (Dustin Hoffman and Susan Sarandon) and a young man (Jake Gyllenhaal) preparing to attend the funeral of a young women; their daughter, his fiance. She was in the wrong place at the worst time, and now everyone is coping in their own way with the aftermath. Complicating matters is that Jake is living with his in-laws, was about to go into business with Dad, and has additional burdens placed on the hell he's going through.

On paper, this seems to contain enough melodrama potential to gum up every gear in the projector, and there are most definitely those kind of moments, but good writing and great acting, plus a relationship Jake strikes up with newcomer Ellen Pompeo, are able to break free from the sticky bits to move the story along. Gyllenhaal, the brother of Secretary's Maggie, has the goods, as does the rest of the cast, although Sarandon's part seemed written a little too hip for credulity, and the movie's title seems to be the concoction of a publicist favoring alliteration over relevance and meaning.

On the whole, well-conceived and executed.

Spirited Away (IMDB) (Netflix)
The latest animated feature (or as aficionados of the genre say, anime) from the "Japanese Walt Disney," Hayao Miyazaki, who also wrote and directed Princess Mononoke. Our protagonist is Chihiro, a timid and slightly spoiled 10-year-old who becomes trapped in a spirit world of anthropomorphized frogs, radishes and assorted tubers. Her parents are stuck in this same world, but they've been transformed into pigs, and desperately need saving before they become breakfast bacon. With a little help from the friends Chihiro makes along the way, she transforms into a plucky "you go girl" hero and it's no surprise that everything turns out just fine at the end.

The animation is spectacular (it's difficult to tell if the digital projection in the theater contributed to the quality) and the level of creativity far exceeds what you'd see in any American animated feature. On the other hand, it's clearly a children's movie, with plenty of made-up-on-the-spot logic and personality shifts (reminiscent of a lucid dream state) that kids will let slide and grown-ups might find tiresome. It's also a bit long for an animated feature at 124 minutes, but judging from the army of animators listed in the credits, that may be an effort by the Japanese government to boost the employment rate. Some great messages about conquering one's fears and fulfilling your responsibility to others that parents will appreciate.

Secretary (IMDB) (Netflix)
It was never like this at the big firm. Maggie Gyllenhaal is a reluctantly de-institutionalized submissive who also dabbles in self-injury, and James Spader is the lightly sadistic lawyer who doesn't like her typing skills. It's a match made in Krafft-Ebing heaven. As with any boss-secretary relationship, however, there's a subtle tug-of-war over who's really in charge, and inside each character as they come to terms with what really makes them happy.

There's not a clichéd moment in the script, which makes every word count and keeps things interesting, albeit at a leisurely pace. Given his career-long stranglehold on endearing creep parts, Spader is nicely typecast but doesn't mail it in, and Gyllenhaal nails what should be her breakout performance; she's got nuance, spunk and a glowing comic charm that you wouldn't expect from such a role. Much fun in the I'm-so-naughty-for-seeing-this sense.

Sex and Lucia (IMDB) (Netflix)
A woefully inadequate title for this rich, complex and sometimes confusing movie; try "Sex, Lucia, Lorenzo the writer, Two More Women, Another Guy Who's Really Well-Equipped and a Senseless Tragedy." The range of plot summaries in other reviews gives one the sense of being in a film criticism version of Rashomon.

We move back and forth in time, and between reality(?) and Lorenzo's writing. There's also plenty of con brio action that, as stimulating as it is to watch (Paz Vega may be the most beautiful woman in film today), seems at the end to have been mostly a diversion from more substantive but murkier messages. Get to the theater on time, don't check out mentally if you lose the scent for awhile, and you might be rewarded.

Lawrence of Arabia (IMDB) (Netflix)
An epic's epic, nominated for ten Oscars, winner of seven, re-released for at least the second time. Peter O'Toole, Alec Guinness, Omar Sharif, Anthony Quinn, Claude Rains, Jack Hawkins, Jose Ferrer and Anthony Quayle. Written by Robert Bolt (Dr. Zhivago, A Man for All Seasons) and directed by David Lean (Dr. Zhivago, Bridge on the River Kwai). Surprising relevance to today's events.

Not taking advantage of this opportunity to see this on the big screen verges on the criminal, but take a nap and pack a lunch; it's 227 minutes long.

Igby Goes Down (IMDB) (Netflix)
Kieran Culkin is Igby, the too-cool-for-any-school teen (parochial, prep and military--nailing the disaffectedness trifecta) with an institutionalized father and a pill-popping, shrewish mom (Susan Sarandon) who's dying of breast cancer. He gets beat up at least three times and the opening scene has him and brother Ryan Philippe killing their mom. A sure-fire comedy premise.

Sure, but the writing is knife-edge sharp, charming without ever becoming maudlin, varied in tone while holding its center. Kieran is the least cute and maybe the best of the acting Culkins, and the rest of the cast is rock-solid and even inspired, adding Jeff Goldblum, Amanda Peet, Claire Danes, Bill Irwin and especially Jared Harris to an already rich mix of alienating personalities.

War Photographer (IMDB) (Netflix)--na
Robert Capa, perhaps the most famous combat photographer ever, said "if your pictures aren't good enough, you're not close enough." It wasn't an empty aphorism; a landmine in Vietnam killed him in 1954.

This Oscar-nominated documentary of today's version of Capa, James Nachtwey, adopts his credo, using tiny video cameras attached to Nachtwey's still camera as he documents the aftermath of Kosovo and Rwanda, the workers' hell-on-earth in the sulphur mines of Indonesia, the continuing tragedy in Ramallah. It's tough viewing, not from poor execution, but from its unflinching images of the worst aspects of humanity, and Nachtwey's compassionate dedication to bringing them back to the rest of the world.

24 Hour Party People (IMDB) (Netflix)
Beginning in the late '70s, Manchester, England was the leading edge of the punk music scene, and TV host and idealistic music impressario Tony Wilson (Steve Coogan) was its muse of sorts, helping bring seminal acts Joy Division, New Order and Happy Mondays to the world through his Factory Records label and the Hacienda nightclub.

"Party People" recounts Wilson's rise and fall through his own Cambridge-educated eyes (as he continually remind us, just like Harvard alums), and with Coogan's wry comic touch and well-executed breaking of the fourth wall by director Michael Winterbottom, it's an inventive, entertaining and even educational ride through an important part of modern music history (Joy Division's name had an appalling Nazi origin). Here's hoping Coogan makes it into more films.

City by the Sea (IMDB) (Netflix)
There are days when it seems that every bad decision you've made in your life comes back to haunt you. NYPD Detective Vincent LaMarca (Robert de Niro) thought he had finally built a simple cozy life for himself, but then his estranged junkie son is accused of murdering a drug dealer, and the dealer's boss comes looking for revenge. Then it gets worse.

De Niro is mostly his competent self, and the moments between him and girlfriend Frances McDormand are the best parts of the movie. Seeing De Niro cry somehow just doesn't seem right, though, and the rest is stubbornly bleak, with little action or humor to break it up, and the pacing in the first half was slow enough to prompt a fellow audience member to say "I kept looking for a remote control to change the channel." The film takes off in the second half, but not before its undercarriage gets torn up by the trees at the end of the runway.

One Hour Photo (IMDB) (Netflix)
Following the disastrous Death to Smoochy and the well-regarded Insomnia, Robin Williams completes an exploration-of-the-dark-side triptych with this mesmerizing character study of a lonely, tightly wrapped photo shop clerk (he would say "craftsman") who covertly adopts the Yorkins. They're an iMac'd, Mercedes-driving, stainless steel kitchen brand of perfect nuclear family, or so Williams has believed, but as he gets closer, he discovers a flaw under the veneer, causing him to respond the only way he knows how.

While many of Williams's roles have been overly sentimental or "too Robin," he's well-restrained here, and submerges under the make-up to truly become Sy the Photo Guy. The creepiness and tension ratchets up smoothly and smartly, and while it's a reasonably challenging film, there's nothing gratuitous about the action. Will do for photo stores what Fatal Attraction did for extra-marital affairs and Marathon Man did for dentists. Me, I've switched to digital.

Mostly Martha (Bella Martha) (IMDB) (Netflix)--na
A charmer, with the title character as at least the second-best chef in Hamburg, a neurotic whose life gets rapidly more complicated when her niece comes to stay and a new cook threatens her dominance of the kitchen. For Martha, preparing great food is her raison d'etre, but as she's beginning to realize, not enough to make her truly fulfilled.

There are some Lifetime Channel moments, few surprises, and the tasty soundtrack is a little repetitive, but Martina Gedeck's performance is first-rate, sucking you into her world, and foodies will be in their element with the kitchen scenes. A confection for sure, but with more than just empty calories. Stick around for the credits.

Possession (IMDB) (Netflix)
A big departure for Neil LaBute, director of often-savage contemporary comedies like Your Friends and Neighbors, In the Company of Men and Nurse Betty. "Possession" is about two simultaneous and problematic romances set in present day and Victorian England, the current one between academics Aaron Eckhart and Gwyneth Paltrow, who are trying to expose a juicy storyline about a famous married poet (Jeremy Northam) and his possible lover (Jennifer Ehle), who had been thought to be exclusively in a "Boston marriage," but may have played with the other team as well.

A more perceptive friend saw some continuity problems and a few actions that were inconsistent with either a character or the times, and there were even a couple of "wait a minute" moments for me. Despite these flaws, Possessions is both an entertaining and moving examination of relationships that, in the hands of decidely un-saccharin LaBute, doesn't deserve to be called a chick flick (the previews were full of trailers for those, karmic payback for the summer popcorn string we've enjoyed). The witty dialogue was marred only by the chucklehead sitting behind me, low profile actress Ehle has a breakthrough role as Northam's object of affection, and the transitions between the past and present are clever without being ostentatious.

Signs (IMDB) (Netflix)
M. Night Shyamalan's latest spiritual thriller (after Sixth Sense and Unbreakable) starring Mel Gibson and crop circles. It's a multidimensional highwire act, balancing Gibson's loss of faith after a senseless tragedy, a series of unexplainable events, and mounting tension interspersed with relief valve humor.

Reactions to movies are often a function of expectations, sometimes inaccurate ("I thought it was going to be more...), and with the recent onslaught of sequels, increasingly well-managed ("I loved it; it was just like the first one."). With Shyamalan, you're getting thoughtful suspense with a message, not a creature feature, so it's important to keep that in mind walking in, and perhaps so should have the writer-director. The first nine-tenths of the movie were very strong, with a great cast hitting all the right notes (he seems to be an excellent director of kids) and careful pacing, but when the last veils were lifted, the presumably beautiful exotic dancer turns into the attractive college girl down the street; it does the job, but it's not all you had hoped for. Worth the trip for the 90% that's top shelf.

XXX (IMDB) (Netflix)
The pitch meeting must have gone very much like: "It's James Bond with a modern sensibility. Make him a buffed-out American, lose the tux, give him a bunch of tattoos and score it with headbanger music." Not a send-up like Austin Powers, more of a "move over, Jimmy, and let someone else take a crack at this goldmine."

Xander Cage (Vin Diesel) is a one-man Dirty Dozen, blackmailed into working undercover for the National Security Agency (wrong spy outfit, guys) after pulling one too many menace-to-society publicity stunts. After that, it's a 007 film step-for-step, complete with a greasy unshaven Eastern European megalomaniac, willing bimbos and gadgets supplied by a junior version of Q. The stunts are more spectacular, if less believable, and the dialog hipper, if less witty. More than a Bond flick in many ways, but also less. Bring your earplugs.

Blood Work (IMDB) (Netflix)
A Clint Eastwood directed and headlined "police procedural," as they're called, but not much of a whodunit, given the blatant over-casting of a supporting role. Eastwood plays a retired FBI profiler with a transplanted heart who gets dragged into a murder case by the victim's sister (Wanda de Jesus). The new ticker is an inspired device to motivate our hero and create some vulnerability, but he's otherwise catnip to the much younger ladies in the film, even with a twelve inch scar running down his chest. All of this would be inspiring to the aging male but c'mon, the guy's seventy-freakin'-two years old.

Audiences will appreciate the laconic Eastwood style, the piecing together, the comic relief from, ah, comedian Paul Rodriguez, and a few Dirty Harry-esque touches of screw-the-procedures action. On the other hand, there are some clunky line readings (Clint doesn't shoot a lot of takes), little suspense and an ending that's stylistically uncharacteristic of the rest of the movie. Eastwood fans will be fine, but mostly a modest film with much to be modest about.

I Am Trying to Break Your Heart (IMDB) (Netflix)
The most common search string to find Short and Sweet Movie Reviews is "sweet movie." There's the key word match, of course, but apparently a number of people are just looking for an endearing little film to get them through the evening. "Heart" might be one of those, but it's not the romance these folks were probably looking for.

Still photographer Sam Jones profiles Wilco, a highly respected Chicago band that still has yet to break big. As with so many lucky documentary filmmakers, he got more than he bargained for: the record company rejected their Yankee Hotel Foxtrot submission, leader Jeff Tweedy fired long-time member Jay Bennett, and the CD finally got released a year later in nicely ironic fashion. It's an art vs. commerce story, but we're not beaten over the head with that chestnut, and there's something about a bunch of seemingly decent guys trying to make music their way that plays better than it reads. Although "Heart" won't make anyone forget The Last Waltz or Woodstock, it's also a refreshing alternative to seeing entourage-laden bad boys moaning that no one understands how tough it is out there. Best suited for Wilco and documentary fans, but also for the searchers of sweet little movies with a beat.

Full Frontal (IMDB) (Netflix)
Steven Soderbergh returns to his low-budget Sex, Lies and Videotape roots with a half-film-half-digital movie-in-a-movie-in-a-movie, give or take a movie. Soderbergh's favorite actress Julia Roberts joins indie film diva Catherine Keener and a cast of other competent B-list actors in one of those multi-storyline hall-of-mirrors Escher drawings that seem to attract directors with pretensions (cf. Thirteen Conversations About One Thing, Magnolia, Short Cuts). In the case of Soderbergh, who's made an impressive series of critically and commercially successful films (Out of Sight, The Limey, Erin Brockovich, Traffic, Ocean's Eleven), it might be misplaced guilt or just a storytelling Pilates exercise.

Plot outlines would be tedious, but there's a bunch of Hollywood nose-tweaking (and where's the challenge in that?), a lot of self-absorbed behavior, clearly improvised scenes and people testing other people for no damn reason. Give Soderbergh points for continually tackling different film styles, but here the constant internal refrain is "where's this going?" and the answer might be "to video, quickly."

My Big Fat Greek Wedding (IMDB) (Netflix)
Time to catch up to some of the box office back markers. This little slice-of-life comedy "has legs"--it's been in theaters for several months and is enjoying good word of mouth, so there's something going on here.

Nia Vardalos, who also wrote the screenplay, plays a Greek-American woman on the verge of spinsterhood who "meets cute" with hunky non-Greek John Corbett ("Aiden" on "Sex and the City"). Hilarity apparently ensues as every oil-and-water situation between Greeks and WASPs is mined for comedy gold, but they don't dig very deep, so while the film is unassumingly charming and is indeed a crowd-pleaser, it's more a catalog of genre moments than a real story that stands on its own two feet. Some nice bits from SCTV's Andrea Martin, who adds much-needed edginess.