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Julie Taymor's Across the Universe offers a heady mix of references to all things about and by the Beatles as well as an assortment of interesting videos (J. M. Flagg's famous poster and the Statue of Liberty for I Want You (She's So Heavy) to help you pass the time while the film makes its way to the end. Neither the performances (barring, perhaps, Dana Fuchs as Sadie and Martin Luther McCoy as Jojo) nor the cameos (Salma Hayek as the nurses in Happiness is a Warm Gun or Bono as Dr. Robert belting out I Am The Walrus or Eddie Izzard as Mr. Kite or Joe Cocker -- nudge nudge wink wink -- singing Come Together) can make up for a screenplay that remains but a strand connecting trivia. [January 08, 2009]

TMNT must represent the first time a live-action franchise was rebooted using CGI. The first animated TMNT film begins with the clichéd sound of the Doom fireball and then decides to use voice-over for back story. It makes up for these missteps with some great production design for the cityscape; the dark alleys and the lighting make this film worth one's while.