Breakfast on Pluto is all style and no substance. "Kitten" is a young transexual who is searching for her mother in London. It's very beautiful and stylized, but the story doesn't really move along. Liam Neeson plays the priest who takes him in as an infant.
The title of the House of Sand & Fog doesn't tell you anything about the film. Starring Jennifer Connelly and Ben Kingsley, this is a story of tortured souls who just can't get anything right. That's exactly what you would expect from a movie starring these two actors. Jennifer's life is falling apart - her husband left her, she has no job, and she's just been evicted. Ben's family seems very proud and successful, but it's all a house of cards. They come together when Ben buys Jennifer's house at an auction after she's been wrongfully evicted. Be prepared for a depressing movie.
Thumbsucker is a slow, but entrancing slice of life movie. Justin is a 17-year old thumbsucker who is trying to "change." Everyone around him has sound advice that they don't take themselves. The acting is very good and so is the writing. The film doesn't take any easy outs, like harping on the thumbsucking too much. The cast is good with a couple of young newcomers starring with Vincent D'Onofrio and Vince Vaughn, who look a lot alike. Surprisingly, Keanu Reeves does a good job and is especially hot at the end.
I saw Mission Impossible III at the Arclight Cineramadome. You probably don't know what that is, but can tell it's cool. It's a huge theater in Los Angeles with loud sound and a giant screen. Anything you see there is an experience. 
Jarhead fulfills its mission to be yet another war movie. It's pretty watchable because of the great cast - the magnetic Jake Gyllenhaal, creepy Peter Scarsgaard, Jamie Foxx, and several others. It's pretty good at depicting how people change based on their surroundings and experiences, but is quite generic otherwise.
Thank you for Smoking was a very nice surprise. The movie was fresh, creative, well acted, and well written. Rob Lowe is a treat as the eccentric Los Angeles movie exec. Katie Holmes was acceptable, although I kept waiting for her to bear her breasts. Rumor has it that nut-job Tom Cruise had the scene pulled.
I love Cruel Intentions. It's total trash. I'm rating this movie highly because I can watch it over and over and it has some great scenes. It is not, however, a brilliant film by objective standards.
I had high hopes for Birthday Girl because it stars Nicole Kidman and Ben Chaplin (the English hottie from the adorable The Truth About Cats & Dogs). The acting was fine, but the story was lame. It's one of those stories where the hero has obvious ways out of the problem, but makes really stupid decisions that no one would make. It could have been surprising and thrilling, but is boring and predictable. Don't watch this one.
Erin Brokovich is the true story of a single-mom who leads the charge in one of the biggest lawsuits in US history. A California town's water was contaminated by PG&E, making it's residents sick with several types of cancer and many other diseases. Julia Roberts provides the performance of her career. Albert Finney, Daddy Warbucks in Annie, is a delight to watch as the tired and socially challenged attorney. The story is extremely well told. You experience the challenges with balancing career opportunities, parenting, dating, and risks. The actual Erin Brokovich has a cameo as a waitress. An overall great film.
