THE READER opens in post-WWII Germany when teenager Michael Berg becomes ill and is helped home by Hanna, a stranger twice his age. Michael recovers from scarlet fever and seeks out Hanna to thank her. The two are quickly drawn into a passionate but secretive affair. Michael discovers that Hanna loves being read to and their physical relationship deepens. Hanna is enthralled as Michael reads to her from “The Odyssey,” “Huck Finn” and “The Lady with the Little Dog.” Despite their intense bond, Hanna mysteriously disappears one day and Michael is left confused and heartbroken. Eight years later, while Michael is a law student observing the Nazi war crime trials, he is stunned to find Hanna back in his life – this time as a defendant in the courtroom. As Hanna’s past is revealed, Michael uncovers a deep secret that will impact both of their lives. THE READER is a story about truth and reconciliation, about how one generation comes to terms with the crimes of another.

Call it the battle of the slimmed-down movie moguls: Superproducer Scott Rudin tussled with studio chief Harvey Weinstein over the release date of director Stephen Daldry’s follow up to The Hours. Rudin and his filmmaker wanted a 2009 berth, but Harvey wasn’t having it, an indication that the former Oscar-winning champ is — dare we say it? — getting back into shape for next February. Right after the drama had subsided (at least in the press), Rudin walked away from the film, and then the reports of HW hassling Reader producer Sydney Pollack on his deathbed surfaced, painting one of the ugliest portraits in recent movie history. I will be happy when the people who actually made and star in this troubled saga begin stumping for the film — especially Kate Winslet, who has a curious bond to this project, and might be competing against herself for her elusive Best-Actress statue next year (her Revolutionary Road arrives on Christmas). Meanwhile, I wonder if Scott Rudin will option his own Reader-era story and turn it into a future Oscar-winning, postwar drama.

Rated R for some scenes of sexuality and nudity.

Hector(Karra Elejalde) is an ordinary man who’s moving to a new house with his wife(Candela Fernandez). One evening, while he’s looking through his binoculars, he sees what he believes to be a naked girl in the woods. He decides to go there just to find that same girl(Barbara Goenaga) laying on a rock. Suddenly, a man with a pink bandage covering his face, stabs Hector in his arm with scissors. Then a chase starts, leading Hector to a time machine that brings him back nearly an hour in the past. The young man in charge of the time machine(Nacho Vigalondo) explains to Hector (Hector 2) that he must not interfere with the other Hector (Hector 1) so he can go into the time machine again, leaving one Hector instead of two. Things complicate, and Hector 2 is hit by a car, injuring his face. To stop the bleeding, he covers his face with a bandage that turns into pink because of the blood. Then Hector 2 realizes he has to stab Hector 1 and chase him to the time machine, but things go wrong and his wife ends up dead by falling from the ceiling of Hector’s house. Hector 2 returns to the time machine and asks the young man to bring him back to the past a few seconds earlier than the last time (becoming Hector 3). Hector 3 hits Hector 2 with a car, so he can turn into the man with the pink bandage and go after Hector 1. After that, he returns to his house with the young girl from the woods, and hides his wife in order to save her from falling. Then he cuts the young girl’s hair to make her look like his wife, and convinces her to climb up the ceiling. Obviously, the girl dies instead of Hector’s wife. The film ends with Hector 3 (now the only Hector) and his wife waiting for the police to come.

It seems as though this year, more so than in any past year, any non-U.S. film that generates Stateside buzz is snatched up and put on the development track to Remakeville. That’s the case with short filmmaker Nacho Vigalondo’s feature debut, which is being handled by Children of Men screenwriter Tim Sexton as a potential project for David Cronenberg. While Timecrimes hasn’t received the same favorable-across-the-board reception as, say, Let the Right One In (which will be directed by Cloverfield’s Matt Reeves for a January 2010 release, FYI) it just might fare better with a slightly re-tinkered premise, if you believe one of the smarter online reviewers out there.

Rated R for nudity and language.

Infamous vigilante, anti-hero Frank Castle (Ray Stevenson) is six years into his vengeance driven zeal as the Punisher when he brutally assaults a “beat the rap” party for notorious mob boss Gaitano Ceasar. During the course of the massacre, he hideously disfigures overeager gangster Billy Russoti (Dominic West) and murders a mafia lackey who turns out to be an undercover FBI agent.

Agent Paul Budiansky (Colin Salmon), the ex-partner of the undercover Fed, joins the NYPD’s “Punisher Task Force” to help bring Castle to justice, once and for all.

A facially mutilated Russoti recovers from his run-in with the Punisher with revenge on his mind and recruits a massive army of psychotic killers, gangbangers, and mobsters under his new alias “Jigsaw.”

Distraught that he has now become the very evil he swore to battle, Castle is content to hang up his guns and quit the justice business for good. However, plans quickly change once he learns that Jigsaw has kidnapped the surviving wife and child of the dead federal agent.

Forced back into the war, the Punisher now has to face off against Jigsaw’s formidable army in order to save the lives of an innocent family his actions put on firing line. “Clock’s ticking.”

Punisher: War Zone … read more »

In her new town of Forks, Washington, misfit teenager Bella Swan (Stewart) falls for her alluring and mysterious classmate, Edward Cullen (Pattinson). As it turns out, Edward belongs to a lineage of vampires, although he doesn’t fit the typical vampire mold. As their passion reaches dizzying heights, can Edward resist his natural urges, and will he be able to defend Bella from his family members who have come for her?

In terms of movies, 2008 will be remembered as the year superheroes went truly mainstream and, separately, the industry realized that female and gay male audiences are a neglected demographic. But what about the younger generation — more specifically, teenage girls? Has any studio been able to figure out what they want, aside from Hannah Montana? Enter Catherine Hardwicke’s adaptation of Stephenie Meyer’s first novel, a project that first captured our interest very early this year when Kristen Stewart (Bella), Robert Pattinson (Edward), and a handful of their castmates took over our STARmeter chart, well in advance of any available footage from the production.

The hype reached its first apex at Comic-Con, when the movie’s panel earned Beatlemania comparisons from aging journalists who covered their ears as the teen girls and their “Twilight Moms” made the event more of a freak-out and less of a presentation. It’s always tricky to predict if Internet buzz will turn into box-office gold (or, in this case, crimson) but I will say this: If the mother-daughter duos turn out for opening weekend (which was pushed up from mid-December to pre-Thanksgiving once Harry Potter decided to hide until 2009), Twilight could trump some higher-profile holiday movies, powered by repeat audiences, and send competing studios rushing off to optioned like-minded novels. Stephenie Meyer is keeping a blog on the movie’s progress, so you might want to bookmark it as your destination for all things vamp as the release date draws near.

Rated PG-13 for some violence and a scene of sensuality.

‘Quantum of Solace’ continues the high octane adventures of James Bond from ‘Casino Royale’. Picking up literally days where the previous film left off, after being betrayed by Vesper, the woman he loved, 007 fights the urge to make his latest mission personal. Having captured Mr. White, and in pursuing his determination to uncover the truth, Bond and ‘M’ interrogate Mr. White who reveals the organisation which blackmailed Vesper to steal Bond’s casino winnings is far more complex and dangerous than anyone had imagined.

Forensic intelligence links an MI6 traitor to a bank account in Haiti where a case of mistaken identity introduces Bond to the beautiful but feisty Camille, a woman who has her own vendetta. Camille leads Bond straight to Dominic Greene, a ruthless businessman and major force within the mysterious criminal organisation known only as ‘Quantum’.

On a mission that leads him to Austria, Italy and South America, Bond discovers that Greene, conspiring to take total control of one of the world’s most important natural resources, is forging a deal with the exiled General Medrano. Using his associates in the organisation, and manipulating his powerful contacts within the CIA and the British government, Greene promises to overthrow the existing regime in Bolivia, giving General Medrano control of the country in exchange for a seemingly barren piece of land which is, however, a main source of the South American water supply. In a minefield of treachery, murder and deceit, Bond allies with old friends in a battle to uncover the truth. As he gets closer to finding the man responsible for the betrayal of Vesper, 007 must keep one step ahead of the CIA, the terrorists, and even ‘M’ herself, to unravel Greene’s sinister plan and stop Quantum from getting its way.

Is Bond losing his edge? With the Jason Bourne’s and Jason Statham’s of the world busting the roof off of Hollywood’s typical car-chasing action genre, 007 can’t really rest on his martini-sipping laurels anymore. Don’t think we didn’t notice you pulling up in a Honda rental car in Royale, Bond. The parkour stunts and blood stains on your tux were a nice touch, though. Keep it up. You know, we’ll keep coming back for more, and who knows, you might see us in a Quantum cardigan; it is autumn, after all. P.S. The reviews from the world premiere have been decidedly mixed.

Rated PG-13 for intense sequences of violence and action, and some sexual content.