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Director: Dennis Dugan

Starring: Adam Sandler, John Turturro, Emmanuelle Chriqui

Adam Sandler co-wrote this explosion of muddled accents, weak characters and occasional humor, as he tries to make us laugh and give some kind of light plea for peace in the middle east. Fine supporting actor John Turturro seems a little lost here and Sandler plays a softer, gentler version of his stock leading man, but the comedy is pure Happy Madison slapstick.

Adam Sandler is a Mossad agent/super hero who makes James Bond look like Maxwell Smart. He fakes his own death to get out of the game so he can pursue his real dream of becoming a hairstylist in New York. There, his specialty of….ummm charming elderly women and offering much more in depth service than cutting and styling their hair. It’s silly and an overdone gag and is added to an evil landlord trying to force his boss, played by Emmanuelle Chriqui (a veteran of over a decade’s worth of work that you have probably never heard of ,and high on FHM’s 2008 list of sexiest women) to move. Things get more active when a trio of goofy terrorists recognize him, and when it turns out that the nemesis of his past life, The Phantom, (played by John Turturro) is also in New York. If it sounds like alot going on, it is, but it all leads to a gentle but awkward ending with a sentiment that’s easy to agree with.

You Don’t Mess With The Zohan is cinematic evidence that Adam Sandler is growing up…sort of. The humor is juvenile, but intermittently funny, and the writing is rough but the script shows a social conscience. Like most of Sandler’s efforts the story is weak, but filled with funny scenes of various effectiveness, that should please his fans, but probably won’t win him any new ones.

Year Of The Dog (2007) **

Director: Mike White

Starring: Molly Shannon, Laura Dern, Regina King, Thomas McCarthy, Peter Sarsgaard, Josh Pais, John C. Reilly

Mike White, the writer of Nacho Libre and School of Rock, takes his first stab at directing with this PETA propaganda film that starts out as a light, romantic drama, but takes a hard right into…into what? Dark comedy? Maybe, but its not funny. Romance? No, the romance vanishes? I guess all we have left is a drama about obsession, that is frustrating to watch. Anyway, the characters here are interesting enough and the story starts out okay, before it veers off into the ditch. The ending is manipulative and unimpressive.

Molly Shannon, of Saturday Night Live fame, is Peggy, a lonely, but content, office worker whose life is cracked by the sudden death of her little dog (he is a very cute dog). These leads to romantic possibilities with a couple of men including her next door neighbour, Al (Reilly) and Newt (Sarsgaard). As these peter out, however, she slowly becomes more and more absorbed with animal rights and saving pound-incarcerated pooches. This leads her to make some very controversial decisions that threaten her stable, little life.

Now, I love animals – all kinds of animals, and, though I often do not agree with the views and actions of organizations like PETA, I am sympathetic to their feelings. Year of The Dog started out as an unusual, little animal lovers romantic comedy like Must Love Dogs crossed with Amelie, but as Peggy turned more and more extreme in her views and actions, I began to resent the opinionated tenor of what I had expected to be light entertainment. PETA supporters, here is a movie just for you.

Director: Christopher Cain

Starring: Emilio Estevez, Kiefer Sutherland, Lou Diamond Phillips, Charlie Sheen, Dermot Mulroney, Casey Seimaszko, Terrence Stamp, Jack Palance

During the 80s, the ‘brat pack’ was put into all kinds of movies to ring the cash register on their box office clout. In this outing, the rich kids dress up like cowboys and ride around shouting and shooting a lot. You know what? It works. This is an excellent western, with good characters that have some depth and personality to them and action scenes that effectively capture the savage chaos that a gunfight entails (yeah, like, I know…well seems right to me anyway). The script even offers some great comic moments, while staying with the nature of the story. The character development gets a little weak in spots. Phillips character is a bit too preachy and Seimaszko’s is unconvincing, but both were good efforts and only suffer by comparison with the great characters (and admirable performances) of Estevez and Sutherland’s.

Emilio Estevez is Billy the Kid and plays the famous outlaw as a charismatic, but psychotic youngster with no impulse control. He and his new companions, including Keiffer Sutherland as ‘Doc’ Scurlock, Lou Diamond Phillips as the Mexican/Indian, Chavez Chavez and Charlie Sheen as Dick Brewer, find themselves in a war with a powerful rancher, Murphy (a very menacing Palance) after their boss, and mentor, John Tunstall (Stamp) is murdered. The Old West is an area of interest for me, and this movie appears to take artistic license, but still sticks to the facts of this true story, something that anal retentive sticklers, like myself, appreciated. As the story goes on, the battle heats up, with Billy fueling the fire at every opportunity, and soon the young men are finding fewer and fewer options before them.

Wonderful characters, well written and well-played, a slightly far-fetched, but still enjoyable true story, explosive action scenes and a rousing soundtrack make this a top level entry into the six shooter niche. At times, the performers’ accents slip and the dialogue slips into modern slang, but a great a movie nonetheless. Regulators! Mount up!

Director: Peter Markle

Starring: Rob Lowe, Patrick Swayze, Ed Lauter, Cynthia Gibb, Jim Youngs, Eric Nesterenko, George Finn

I like hockey. I like hockey far more than most of the power brokers in Hollywood, judging by the number and quality of hockey movies that are made. Peter Markle directed, and co-wrote, this hockey movie and it is the most realistic movie about the sport to ever come out of the Hollywood machine. The hockey scenes are flawed in spots, but less so than most other efforts and the writing about the actions and relationships on a Major Junior hockey team are dead on. The characters are largely stereotypes and the story is pure sports formula right down to the requisite eighties training montage, but there is still enough charm and action to make it interesting.

Rob Lowe is Dean Youngblood, an American farm boy with a dream to make it to the NHL, and unlike, his brother (Jim Youngs) who has already tried and failed, Dean may just have the speed and talent to make it. To this end, he crosses the border to try out for a Canadian Major Junior team, where they decide to take him, despite his lack of toughness, so prized in the hockey world. He soon shows his talent and is befriended by Derek Sutton (Patrick Swayze), the team’s best player, finds himself smitten by the coach’s daughter and struggles to find the toughness he will need to survive in the rough and tumble hockey world.

Imagine Slapshot with young male heartthrobs instead of broken down old stars and with a dramatic plot instead of overblown comedy and you will have some idea of what to expect here. Look for retired, long-time NHL pro, Eric Nesterenko in a small role as Dean’s dad. Hockey fans and fans of sports movies, in general, will find this old, forgotten film to be worth hunting down.