irreverent reverends

I must say I rather liked this moving picture. It was wonderfully diverting. I and my fellow cinema-goers enjoyed the general splendor and the period-correct dialog. The gentleman seated in the row in front of us made quite a noise during a short scene in which a sow walks by a doorway. It was most uncouth.

If you allow yourself the honor of viewing this film, you shall not be remiss. I myself have never read the novel, nor any other of Ms. Austen's works, and I truly enjoyed the story.

Ms. Knightley, playing the second eldest Miss Bennet, positively shined in her role. The sets and costumes were superb, as were all of the ribbons.

Would you care to take a turn around the room?

it was the magical world of chris van allsburg's jumanji that undoubtedly inspired zathura, his follow up space-game adventure tale. the interesting point here is that hollywood's sleek addition to the interactive board game genre was indeed an original effort on van allsburg's part.

van allsburg clearly constructed this type of story for a specific reason. the relationships formed and lessons learned behind the antics of the game erect a formula that could be endlessly repeated with new familial issues to excise and patch up with each go-round. the hollywood approach to van allsburg's incredible storytelling is obviously expoited because, well, they're just that damn good. how could they possibly let zathura stay on the bookstore shelves without turning it into a thanksgiving box office marketing wet dream?

that said, jon favreau, in his follow up directing role to the 2003 holiday smash 'elf', does a fair job at constructing the family tension between walter (josh hutcherson, 'little manhattan') and danny (jonah bobo), and an even better one exploring the small victorian house suspended in the limitless spacial universe described by van allsburg. it's not easy to write a film focusing on two kids under 11, but veteran david koepp (jurassic park, spiderman) does a fine job in creating the bickering and sometimes comical dialogue between walter and his younger brother.

the board-game tactics that run parallel to those of jumanji don't seem as cleverly constructed this time around, but the effort to focus the game on the reformation of two young brothers is quite nice. zathura is visually appealing, with the meteor shower and magnet field card turns showing today's CG superiority to jumanji, but instead of a frightening bounty hunter, this time it's just an average personal toy robot. and instead of a ferocious lion and sneaky monkeys, it's trite zorgon aliens. and finally, instead of an endearing and hairy robin williams, it's a flat and snarky dax shepard astronaut. his surprise reveal is certainly unexpected, but also poses some logistical problems that i am still working on deciphering.

for an interstellar adventure this anticipated, zathura revels in its lovely predecessor. it's no sequel, but walter and danny are so fast to jump into the game (almost like they knew what their board-game adventure had in store for them), that it leads one to ponder the true significance behind zathura. either way, take evasive action -- the van allsburg meteorshower continues. but do be sure to take a peek.

A fiery documentary with loose morals but fabulous visuals. Clownin' and Krumpin' in South Central Los Angeles are profiled and exposed by semi-legendary MTV video guru LaChapelle. The frenetic and truly remarkable dance styles may resemble each other, but as members of the 50+ clown groups and their rival Krumpers will tell you, they are worlds different.

As the dancing subculture consumes would-be gang bangers of the seedy L.A. southside, LaChapelle focuses on innovator "Tommy the Clown" and his proteges, as well as icons like Tight Eyez, Miss Prissy and Lil' C to unfold this tale. These tangible faces make the dance obsession that much more meaningful. We hear horror stories of family shootouts, drug interventions and murder from the dancers, which proves to be the most potent aspect as to why this subculture is so important. It's expressive, personal and damn cool to watch, but the motivation behind the sweat and runny-clown make up is the most intriguing.

Think about it, how many of these dancers would be killing for acceptance into the Bloods or Crips if not for their investment in dancing? LaChapelle struggles in elevating the truly interesting morsels of the culture, like an abrupt visit to a discount casket store, above the mind blowing dance routines. The Bloods v. Crips may be overlooked for Clowns v. Krumpers, but one still has to wonder, how far can this rivalry go? A break in at the end nearly shatters this moral dilemma. Then again, this is South Central L.A.