The Great Depression of the 1930s produced a new brand of criminal. Like the semi-media-popular James and Hole in the Wall gangs they robbed banks, trains and other businesses and shot up towns. They kidnapped people and held them for ransom. Weaponry and automobiles were the difference. They were violent, machine gun wielding slime balls that killed anyone that got in their way, especially law enforcement. Most were cowardly psychopaths whose getaways included grabbing hostages to use as shields during shootouts.

The Brothers Bloom casts Adrien Brody (King Kong) and Mark Ruffalo as expert con artists Stephen and Bloom Bloom. Brody's Bloom wants out. He gets convinced by his older brother to do one more job. The target is rich eccentric Penelope Stamp.

The popularity of the Ice Age movies is puzzling. Second-tier movie and TV talent, limited plots with so-so writing, average animation and uninteresting characters dominate them. Much of it--I suspect--is because of Scrat, an acorn addicted saber-toothed squirrel that doubles as the series' version of Warner Brother's Wile E. Coyote who never managed to catch the Road Runner.

Michael Bay has now done two self-indulgent, effects-crammed movies about toys that toymaker Hasbro is credited with inventing.

The Proposal trods through territory gone over in hundreds—and maybe even thousands—of better love stories. Cookie-cutter characters inhabit a paper-thin plot while being helplessly propelled to a cliché climax.

Easy Virtue is one of Noel Coward's lesser-known plays. It is a comedy with a dramatic flair and is an indictment of the stuffy upper crust British life of the 1920s.

Mr. Movie & writer/director Stephan Elliott and writer Sheridan Jobbins

An industry out of ideas does another remake.

Eddie Murphy is Evan, a financial advisor locked in an ego battle with rival Thomas Haden Church’s Whitefeather.

Max Solomon writes a horrible play. The premise and the dialogue are laughable.

Regular readers know I am not a Will Ferrell fan.

Four guys go to Las Vegas for a bachelor party. Expected.

Webster’s online dictionary gives the noun “genius” five definitions.

Writer-director Bernardo Bertolucci’s bio-pic of China’s last emperor Pu-Yi is a visual masterpiece.

Didn’t George Lucas’ Star Wars prequels prove that not all complex sci-fi plots need to be completed?

Ben Stiller’s Night at the Museum character Larry Daley has bagged the security guard career and is now a TV infomercial millionaire inventor.

The film’s main character is a violin.

Dan Brown’s book Angels & Demons is a better read than his big hit The Da Vinci Code.

Stardate 1905.08. Red alert. In local movie theaters, a Romulan vessel looking more like a giant squid than a space ship, has invaded Federation space. An intense, dramatic, brilliantly shot and edited battle scene develops. It ends with the birth of James T. Kirk.

Just plain Star Trek.

The title scares me.

Matthew McConaughey — who else? — is Connor Mead, a womanizing misogynist.

Creatures with physical features combining fish with human attributes dwell on Terra.

Arthur Blessitt’s deep belief and faith in the salvation of Jesus Christ via death on the cross, led him to first preach on the streets of Los Angeles in the 1960s and then to carry a wooden cross to every country in the world.

I picked Once as 2007’s best film.

The Soloist is the “true” story of Steve Lopez, a columnist for The Los Angeles Times who discovers a schizophrenic and homeless Julliard-trained cellist living on the streets of L.A.

Warning to parents: Though it is rated G and you don’t see blood and gore, EARTH does have what could be an uncomfortable and violent moment or two. Do take your young children, do take the entire family. Just be prepared.

I love this movie. And not just because it was done by people living in the Tri-Cities. The Competition works Christian themes of good and evil in a most clever and satisfying way.

Heartthrob Zac Efron from the High School Musicial series stars as Mike O’Connell age 17.

I love whodunits.

Sunshine Cleaning is about people like you and me.

The first half of Steven Soderbergh’s ode to revolutionary Che Guevara covered the Cuban Revolution, touched on his relationship with Fidel Castro and Castro’s brother Raul.

I love character actors. The most fun I’ve had interviewing actors over the years has been those that do the small roles that can make or break the movie. One of my favorites is Clifton Collins Jr.

Yes, I have EARTH tickets.

Miley Cyrus is the world’s most popular teen.

Lucky us.

Carmike will not be showing Che: Part 2 this week.

The name play with the The Fast and Furious sequels is far more creative than the plot of the latest installment which has a line in it that indicates it may be the prequel to The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift.

Set in the 1980s, Advertureland casts Jesse Eisenberg as James Brennan who was supposed to get trip to Europe as a graduation present.

Carmike is presenting Che in two parts. Part one this week, part two will come next.

Takva means understanding God.

Remember the first time you saw Shrek? This is that kind of treat. Dreamworks--who also put together our favorite Ogre films--did Monsters Vs. Aliens as a 3-D project. Most are two dimensions turned into three after the filming is completed. Both techniques boggle the mind--and are definitely the future of film--but the difference between the two is astonishing.

Internet Movie Data Base (IMDB) gives two running times for The Haunting in Connecticut: 98 minutes and 102 minutes. Neither is accurate. The film runs two hours. Two hours too many.

Sometimes even movie critics can be prophets. We don’t do things in biblical proportion or anything close, but often prescience in the realm of mystical movies is a given.

Industrial espionage is Duplicity's theme. Paul Giamatti and Tom Wilkinson head up rival mega-corporations. They hate each other. Their revulsion spills over into an original, and quite creative, slow motion fight at an airport early in the movie.

Carmike Cinemas and Regal's Columbia Mall 8 are stretching outside normal movie fare. Regal has been doing Thursday night flashbacks that have included such great films as Top Gun, Dirty Dancing, Back to the Future, Scarface, and my personal favorite, Pulp Fiction.

Disney Studios used to churn five or six of these out a year. Their cookie-cutter plots and use of TV talent or washed-up former superstars nearly ruined the company.

Watchmen is based on 12 comic books published in 1986 and 1987. So popular was the series that it has gained cult status.

Winnipeg — according to My Winnipeg — is the heart of the heart of the continent.

Both Regal’s Columbia Mall 8 and the Carmike 12 have been experimenting to give you a different movie experience.