When Bella and Jacob finally get back together in THE TWILIGHT SAGA: NEW MOON, you realize that this is the spark that was missing for over an hour and the sudden appearance of characters played by Dakota Fanning and Michael Sheen just make you wonder why the middle part wasn’t just filmed in fast-forward mode.

Newcomer Carey Mulligan gets it just right in AN EDUCATION as she plays an intelligent young woman who must chose between the safe and sane road suggested by school counselors and parents or the seductive lure of jet-setting, do-nothings who fly to Paris for dinner and drinks. Actually, I’ve said too much. This coming of age film, and Mullligan’s performance, should be experienced rather than described.

THE MEN WHO STARE AT GOATS is based on reality—there really were men in the US military convinced they could dissolve storm clouds or walk through walls if they could just run fast enough.

THIS IS IT is all real, all new, and all Michael Jackson. Over 100 hours of behind the scenes footage was shot during the last four months of the King of Pop’s life, and Kenny Ortega, the director of the stage show being filmed, has respectfully and wisely created a movie that showcases the singer’s talent. No “fat Elvis problem” here. The scenes that are shown are of a fifty-year-old performer still at the top of his game.

Cinema Toast’s Gil Mansergh hosts the Filmmaker’s Sampler “The Unscripted Life of Hollywood Actor Jefrey Weissman” at the Sebastopol Center for the Arts, November 14th.

Looking a lot like the plastic statues that used to stand guard at Bob’s Big Boy hamburger restaurants, the shiny, gee-whiz look of this Japanese super hero almost makes you forget the truly dark “back story.” A sky city scientist accidentally kills his super-smart son and replaces him with a super strong robot he can’t learn to love, This ASTRO BOY is coveted by the evil government but escapes by falling to Earth where he joins orphan children raised by a Fagan-like exploiter who probably studied “Oliver” to learn his parenting skills. But that’s what the adults will see. The kids didn’t seem to be upset by any of this.

Gil Mansergh’s Cinema Toast New Releases 10/16/09 Where the Wild Things Are (PG) Starring: Paul Dano, Forest Whitaker, Michelle Williams, Catherine Keener and the voices of Lauren Ambrose, Catherine O’Hara, Chris Cooper, James Gandolfini Director: Spike Jonze I was disappointed when I first saw that the monsters in this film were like the old H.R. Puffinstuff puppets, but in the complete version, I grew to like the wild things and then dislike the script. The … Read More »

Gil Mansergh’s Cinema Toast New Releases 10/09/09 Couples Retreat (PG-13) Starring: Vince Vaughn, Kristen Bell, Jason Bateman, Malin Akerman Director: Peter Billingsley The concept sounds good—four Midwest couples head to a tropical island to work on their marriage and have fun in paradise. But the reality fizzles, as time after time, what should have been fun (and funny) just bombs. 1 piece of soggy toast Stark Raving Black (R) Starring: Lewis Black The grumpy comic vents his spleen … Read More »

IN WHIP IT, Drew Barrymore has created a marvelously empowering film about the tattooed and rough-and-tumble world of Roller Derby that is as fast and slick as the wheels on these women’s feet.

Gil Mansergh’s Cinema Toast New Releases 9/25/09 Fame (PG) Starring: Kelsey Grammer, Megan Mullally, Kay Panabaker, Bebe Neuwirth Director: Kevin Tancharoen TV’s Frasier and his ex-wife Lilith play a piano teacher and a dance instructor in this “reinvention” of the original Oscar-winning film following the dancers, singers, and actors in the New York High School for the Performing Arts. Unlike the gritty-for-its-time first film, this one has been toned down to attract the “High School … Read More »