Ali - 3 stars

Ali was a good movie that could have been great. It had all the elements of a great movie, but didn't quite fulfill any of them. The acting was pretty good, but not great. Will Smith at times embodied Muhammad Ali, but at times fell into his own voice. Jon Voight was brilliant as Howard Cossell. Cossell was charming with great timing. I had no idea it was Voight until I saw the closing credits, even after seeing his name on the opening credits.

The story started off brilliantly, with wonderful visuals to put you in a time of race wars. Then it jumped around with no explanations. MLK was killed in a scene with no previous mention of him, without saying his name, or any other mention of him again. It was very confusing.

It does paint a picture of Ali as a smart man with a huge heart, a super-hero of a kind. I wish I had seen this before I saw Ali himself at LAX a few years ago.

The Girl in the Café - 3 stars

There are some real strengths and weaknesses of the Girl in the Café. The story is about a lonely, shy man with a very stressful job who falls for a lonely girl (there's about a 30 year age difference) that he meets, well, in a café.

Strengths: the acting is very good. I enjoyed both leads Bill Nighy and Kelly Macdonald. They have cute accents, which is always a winner. The characters are well drawn and provide some surprises. The filming was excellent. They do a great job creating visual effects with costumes and angles. For example, Lawrence was feeling left out of the group, so he was the only one dressed differently, his chair was pulled back slightly from the circle, and his feet were turned in. I also liked the ending.

Weaknesses: the characters made the same painful mistatakes over, and over, and over. I hate that. The story was stagnant through about a third of it. Also, I didn't buy how someone as weak as Lawrence can end up in such a high powered job. He's pathetic.

So, overall it was fine, but not great. I wouldn't watch it again.

Batman Begins - 3.5 stars

Batman Begins stars the always hot Christian Bale (amazing in Laurel Canyon). It's an excellent superhero story, good acting (except the overrated Katie Holmes), good special effects... It was much better in the theater, but still a very good watch at home. I'm looking forward to the next installment due in 2008 which will keep most of the stars including Morgan Freeman, Gary Oldman (one of my favorites) and Michael Caine.

Barbershop - 1 star

Why was this movie a hit? Barbershop has poor acting and not much of a story or character development. Pass.

Transamerica - 4.5 stars

Transamerica is a one-of-a-kind film about a pre-operative male-to-female transsexual. An almost unrecognizable Felicity Huffman plays Bree brilliantly. You really think she is a man successfully passing as a woman, with help of hormones and preliminary surgery. With a story like this you expect some horrible tragedy, like she's outed and gets beat up. To the filmmakers' credit, the story keeps true to the experience of an individual struggling to find her voice. The special features, especially the full commentary, are worth watching as well.

Freaks & Geeks (TV) - 4 stars

Freaks & Geeks is set in 1980 in high school reality, not the schmaltz you see on most sitcoms that are supposed to be high school. The main characters are kinda burnout/losers who are actually kinda cool and a bunch of nerds, like real high school students. The parents are pretty good too. It's well acted, with the best work coming from geek #3, Bill. He's definately a star in the making as the nerdiest kid ever. It's not mindblowing, but a really good watch. Not everything is realistic, but I'm still sucked into the characters