You've always wanted to be a Hollywood player. Admit it. Here's your big chance to help finance an upcoming documentary. (And like all slick Hollywood players, the money won't even be coming out of your pocket!) All you have to do is download the documentary "10 MPH." For free. And when you do, each time that you do, the folks behind the Web site www.ourstage.com/go/10mph will hand over a crisp $1 to filmmakers Josh Caldwell ... [full story]

There are two kinds of people. There are those who obsess over every detail in a relationship, who analyze each behavior and meditate on the significance of every word and action that transpires.   'ATONEMENT' - Keira Knightley and James McAvoy star in the wartime drama 'Atonement.' CNS Photo courtesy of Alex Bailey.  DVD RATINGS 4 stars: Don't miss: rent it/buy it 3 stars: Worth the risk: rent it 2 stars: On the tipping point: if nothing ... [full story]

"This has nothing to do with the 'Beowulf' you were forced to read in high school." On this matter, director Robert Zemeckis is emphatic when he's speaking on the DVD extras.   'BEOWULF' - Beowulf confronts Grendel the monster's mother, a water demon played by Angelina Jolie, in the fantasy movie 'Beowulf.' CNS Photo courtesy of Paramount Pictures.  DVD RATINGS 4 stars: Don't miss: rent it/buy it 3 stars: Worth the risk: rent it 2 stars: On ... [full story]

In some weird warp of societal values, the ability to laugh at yourself is considered a mark of distinction among the pop culturatti. Celebrities, movie stars and athletes who are self-effacing are, like, regular people. That being the case, the figure skating crowd is just a great old down-to-earth bunch.   'BLADES OF GLORY' - Will Ferrell and Jon Heder star in the comedy 'Blades of Glory.' CNS Photo courtesy of Suzanne Hanover.  DVD RATINGS 4 stars: ... [full story]

From the moment he stepped on screen in "Eastern Promises" (Universal, 4 stars) I was prepared to despise the Russian hood Nikolai (Viggo Mortensen). His predatory look, his sneer, his cold personality, his Russianness - they should have been painfully out of place on a London street and yet, Nikolai swaggers like he owns the block.   'EASTERN PROMISES' - Naomi Watts and Viggo Mortensen star in the gripping mob thriller 'Eastern Promises.' CNS Photo courtesy ... [full story]

If ever there was a good soldier during the Cold War it was CIA counterintelligence specialist Edward Wilson (Matt Damon) in the epic drama "The Good Shepherd" (Universal 3 1/2 stars). If you measure what a man gives up for his comrades and country, there would be few to match Wilson. It seems that, as the movie goes on, you shudder and wonder what more this guy could sacrifice. Each time he gives something, one ... [full story]

There was something uncommonly good about the so-called extras on the DVD for the wonderful movie "The Kite Runner" (DreamWorks, 3 1/2 stars). There are only two, "Words of Kite Runner" and "Images of Kite Runner," but they are composed unusually well and rich with insightful commentary.   'THE KITE RUNNER' - Ahmad Khan Mahmoodzada and Zekiria Ebrahimi star in the gripping drama 'The Kite Runner.' CNS Photo courtesy of Phil Bray.   DVD RATINGS 4 stars: Don't ... [full story]

In a video prologue to his very adult fairy tale "Pan's Labyrinth" (New Line, 4 stars) the visionary writer-director Guillermo del Toro offers some compelling reasons to watch his film. "This movie almost destroyed me," he says with an almost unfathomable calm and wisp of a smile. "It took away 45 pounds of my body (he still looks like a gentler Michael Moore); many sleepless nights; and a lot of love." There you have it, ... [full story]

Back in 1979, Idi Amin fled Uganda and began an odyssey that took him to several countries before he settled in Saudi Arabia. Every morning, disc jockey Don Imus would call an embassy or government functionary somewhere in the third world and demand to know the whereabouts of the fallen dictator. The man had the blood of more than 300,000 people on his hands and his whereabouts was a funny little bit on a radio ... [full story]

There are certain people with a talent for making other people's problems go away. In one of the hottest movies in Oscar contention this year, "Michael Clayton" (Warner Home Video, 3 stars), that is exactly what the title character does.   'MICHAEL CLAYTON' - George Clooney and Sydney Pollack star in the legal thriller 'Michael Clayton.' CNS Photo courtesy of Myles Aronowitz.  DVD RATINGS 4 stars: Don't miss: rent it/buy it 3 stars: Worth the risk: rent ... [full story]

Every once in a while, a movie comes along that is so good, so refreshingly real and so honest and entertaining that it gets you through all those contrived studio products and reminds you why you pay those ridiculous prices at the ticket booth. "Once" (Fox, 4 stars) is exactly one of those movies.   'ONCE' - 'Once' is a touching indie musical starring Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova. CNS Photo courtesy of Fox Searchlight.  DVD RATINGS ... [full story]

This much we know from movies like "The Yards," "Four Brothers," "The Departed" and now "Shooter" (Paramount, 3 1/2 stars): Don't ever cross Mark Wahlberg. Because he will hunt you down with a vengeance.   'SHOOTER - Mark Wahlberg stars as sniper Bobby Lee Swagger in the drama 'Shooter.' CNS Photo courtesy of Kimberley French. "Shooter" is vintage vengeance. Wahlberg is Bob Lee Swagger, a Marine marksman who is extremely good at his craft, and poorly used ... [full story]

On the DVD extras of the exquisite little film "Waitress" (Fox, 4 stars), the writer-director-co-star Adrienne Shelly calls her movie a "love letter to Sophie," her young daughter who plays the toddler Lulu near the film's end.   PIE-MAKING GENIUS' - In 'Waitress,' Keri Russell plays a battered wife with a gift for making delicious pies. CNS Photo by Alan Markfield.  DVD RATINGS 4 stars: Don't miss: rent it/buy it 3 stars: Worth the risk: rent it ... [full story]