Eragon **
Cast: Ed Speleers, Jeremy Irons, Sienna Guillory, Robert Carlyle, John Malkovich, Garrett Hedlund, Djimon Hounsou
Director: Stefan Fangmeier
Running Length: 1:40
MPAA Classification: PG

17-year old Eragon (Spleers) lives a fairly peaceful life with his uncle. One day he comes across what he believes to be an odd looking stone. Soon, he discovers it is a dragon egg, and once that egg hatches, he seeks out the village bum/storyteller Brom (Irons). He seems to know a lot about dragons, and begins to teach Eragon the ways of Dragon Riders. Meanwhile, the evil King Galbatoris (Malkovich) sends his minion Durza (Carlyle) to find the dragon and destroy it.

“Eragon” is sub-par on almost all levels. The worst aspect is that the story parallels “Star Wars” almost exactly. I cannot help but wonder if George Lucas is getting a paycheck for this ripoff of a story. To be fair, I am told that the film differs quite a bit from the book. Spleers is adequate as Eragon. Malkovich is fun to watch as always, but he gets very little screen time. The saving grace in the acting department is Irons, who seems to be having fun despite the film he is in. If you must see this, wait until it comes out on DVD.

The Nativity Story **1/2
Cast: Keisha Castle-Hughes, Oscar Issac, Hiam Abbass, Shaul Toub, Alexander Siddig, Shohreh Agdashloo, Ciaran Hinds
Director: Catherine Hardwicke
Running Length: 1:35
MPAA Classification: PG

When teenaged Mary (Castle-Hughes) finds out that she has been betrothed to Joseph (Isaac), she is not happy. A visit from the Archangel Gabriel (Siddig) informs her that she will be impregnated by the Holy Spirit and will give birth to Jesus. Upon returning from visiting her cousin Elizabeth (Agdashloo), she is in the midst of a scandal. She is pregnant, but not with Joseph’s child. Gabriel visits Joseph, and he claims the child as his own. Meanwhile, King Herod (Hinds) calls for a census, forcing Mary and Joseph to travel to Bethlehem. The king also fears the prophecies telling of the birth of the King of the Jews, and that will only make things more difficult for Mary and Joseph.

You know the story…there is nothing new here. It is, in many ways, like watching the local Christmas pageant in church. The production is not as good as it could have been, and that is what just makes this an OK movie. The acting is allright as well, with no real standouts. I suppose that the wise men are pretty interesting, but they mostly provide comic relief. “The Nativity Story” is a harmless film, that will probably do better on DVD. My suggestion is to wait until that time to see it.

2007 Golden Globes nominees

Here are the Golden Globe movie nominees:

Picture, Drama: Babel,Bobby,The Departed,Little Children,The Queen

Actress, Drama: Penelope Cruz, Volver ; Judi Dench, Notes on a Scandal ; Maggie Gyllenhaal, Sherrybaby ; Helen Mirren, The Queen ; Kate Winslet, Little Children

Actor, Drama: Leonardo DiCaprio, Blood Diamond ; Leonardo DiCaprio, The Departed ; Peter O'Toole, Venus ; Will Smith, The Pursuit of Happyness ; Forest Whitaker, The Last King of Scotland

Picture, Musical or Comedy: Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan,The Devil Wears Prada,Dreamgirls,Little Miss Sunshine,Thank You for Smoking

Actress, Musical or Comedy: Annette Bening, Running With Scissors ; Toni Collette, Little Miss Sunshine ; Beyonce Knowles, Dreamgirls ; Meryl Streep, The Devil Wears Prada ; Renee Zellweger, Miss Potter

Actor, Musical or Comedy: Sacha Baron Cohen, Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan ; Johnny Depp, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest ; Aaron Eckhart, Thank You for Smoking ; Chiwetel Ejiofor, Kinky Boots ; Will Ferrell, Stranger than Fiction

Supporting Actress: Adriana Barraza, Babel ; Cate Blanchett, Notes on a Scandal ; Emily Blunt, The Devil Wears Prada ; Jennifer Hudson, Dreamgirls ; Rinko Kikuchi, Babel

Supporting Actor: Ben Affleck, Hollywoodland ; Eddie Murphy, Dreamgirls ; Jack Nicholson, The Departed ; Brad Pitt, Babel ; Mark Wahlberg, The Departed

Director: Clint Eastwood, Flags of Our Fathers ; Clint Eastwood, Letters from Iwo Jima ; Steven Frears, The Queen ; Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu, Babel ; Martin Scorsese, The Departed

Screenplay: Guillermo Arriaga, Babel ; Todd Field and Tom Perrotta, Little Children ; Patrick Marber, Notes on a Scandal ; William Monahan, The Departed ; Peter Morgan, The Queen

Foreign Language: Apocalypto, USA; Letters from Iwo Jima, USA/Japan; The Lives of Others, Germany; Pan's Labyrinth, Mexico; Volver Spain

Animated Film: Cars,Happy Feet,Monster House

Original Score: Alexandre Desplat, The Painted Veil ; Clint Mansell, The Fountain ; Gustavo Santaolalla, Babel ; Carlo Siliotto, Nomad ; Hans Zimmer, The Da Vinci Code

Original Song: A Father's Way from The Pursuit of Happyness ; Listen from Dreamgirls ; Never Gonna Break My Faith from Bobby ; The Song of the Heart from Happy Feet ; Try Not to Remember from Home of the Brave

Déjà Vu ***
Cast: Denzel Washington, Paula Patton, Val Kilmer, James Caviezel, Adam Goldberg, Bruce Greenwood
Director: Tony Scott
Running Length: 2:00
MPAA Classification: PG-13

On Fat Tuesday in New Orleans, a ferry explodes offshore. Over 500 people are dead, most of them military. ATF agent Doug Carlin (Washington) is called in to investigate this act of terrorism. FBI agent Pryzwarra (Kilmer) is running the investigation and is immediately impressed with Carlin. Soon Carlin finds himself on the inside of an elite agency that has the capability to look exactly four days and six hours into the past. Carlin does not believe Pryzwarra’s explanation of the system, and is determined to find out exactly how it works.

Tony Scott, master of ADD filmmaking manages to reel things in a bit with “Déjà Vu”. Best described as a time travelling action mystery, “Déjà Vu” is highly entertaining. Denzel Washington brings a typical Denzel Washington performance to the film, and that is just fine. He is not stretching here, but the performance is familiar, and it gets the job done. The story is interesting and not too confusing as time traveling stories can sometimes be. There are some action sequences, but they are not as prevalent as one might expect from a Tony Scott film. Overall, “Déjà Vu” delivers the entertaining diversion that it sets out to provide, and I recommend it.

The Fountain ***
Cast: Hugh Jackman, Rachel Weisz, Ellen Burstyn, Mark Margolis, Cliff Curtis, Sean Patrick Thomas, Donna Murphy, Ethan Suplee
Director: Darren Aronofsky
Running Length: 1:36
MPAA Classification: PG-13

In the 1500s, Queen Isabel (Weisz) of Spain sends a Conquistador (Jackman) to find the Fountain of Youth in New Spain. In the 26th century, a man (Jackman) is on a trip through the stars with a tree. In the present, Tommy Creo (Jackman), a drug developer, is trying to cure his wife Izzy (Weisz), who has an inoperable brain tumor.

While this is a vague description, to tell more would be to give away too much. All the story lines are related in some way, and director Darren Aronofsky does a good job bouncing back and forth between the three. Jackman and Weisz are the emotional core of the movie, and both do very good jobs in their multiple roles. At its heart, “The Fountain” is a love story, albeit not a love story for everyone. It is worth a view if you are looking for something a little different.