KATE WINSLET won the best actress award in the recent Oscars for "The Reader". In the Golden Globes, she won best actress for "Revolutionary Road" and the best supporting actress award for "The Reader". We've seen both films and she really deserves to win more for "The Reader", where her role is definitely a lead and not a supporting one. Serious film lovers should be thankful that the film is now being released in local theaters. Before, other Oscar winning films like "The Queen" and "Monster's Ball" (where Helen Mirren and Halle Berry won their best actress Oscars) weren't shown here at all.

Directed by Stephen Daldry ("Billy Elliott", "The Hours"), "The Reader" is based on a novel by German writer Bernhard Schlink that Oprah Winfrey recommended in her show. It opens in 1995 with lawyer Michael Berg (Ralph Fiennes) making breakfast for a woman he slept with the previous night in his neatly kept apartment. He looks sad and lonely and we soon find out why through a series of flashbacks. It's 1958 in West Berlin and Michael is only 15 years old (David Kross). He gets sick on his way home from school and throws up on the cobblestones in an alley. A woman helps him and takes him to her room where she tells him to undress so she can clean him up.

Michael gets attracted to the spinsterish woman who lives by herself and returns to her. While she's dressing up, she catches him looking at her secretly and he gets embarrassed and flees. The next time he visits her, she asks him to get coal from the basement and he gets covered with soot. She gives him a bath and end up in bed. They have already made love before they even learn of each other's names. She is Hanna Schmitz and supplies no other information about herself.

He sees her working as a conductress on the train. Hanna loves it when he reads aloud his books to her, from Homer's Iliad to Checkov's "The Lady with a Little Dog" and DH Lawrence's "Lady Chatterley's Lover" that Hanna found scandalous. Michael is so enamoured with Hanna, but one day, she just leaves without saying goodbye and it takes a long time before he sees her again.

It's mid-1960 and Michael is now in law school when his professor (Bruno Ganz) takes him and his classmates to a public court where some women are under trial for Nazi war crimes. One of them is Hanna. It's revealed that she used be a Nazi prison guard accused of the death of 300 Jewish war prisoners who perished in a fire in a concentration come in Auschwitz. Michael is careful Hanna doesn't see him during the trial. It's then that he realizes that Hanna has a secret. She asked him then to read to her all the time because she is no read-no write. He could very well speak in her behalf to show that she's not fully guilty of the crimes charged against her, but he chooses to keep silent.

Hanna is imprisoned for life. Many years pass. In his own way, Michael tries to make amends and we won't tell you how as this is the part that truly moved us to tears, when we realized what he's doing to assuage his own feelings of guilt.. Eventually, they meet again when Michael visits her in prison and this is one of the most poignant scenes in the film.

The Reader" is a well made melodrama that touches on issues of moral complexity and ambiguity, of guilt and redemption. It's a Hollywood flick made for adult audiences, with its unabashed love scenes complete with full frontal nudity accented by attractive lighting of each provocative scene. We hope the MTRCB won't cut the sexy scenes as they're artfully executed with tasteful production values even if, admittedly, they somewhat border on sexploitation.

Echoes of the Holocaust will also haunt you, like that eerie scene where Michael visits a prison death camp with its rows and rows of old shoes left by the exterminated victims. Kate Winslet is mesmerizing as the lonely woman who obviously never realized the enormity of her crime.

Physically, her naked skin and limbs gleam in the dark with the help of the exquisite cinematography as she deflowers and teaches bedroom techniques to an infatuated teenage boy. She is shown aging here from her 30s to her 60s and she's just magnificent with the help of effective makeup.

David Kross as the young Michael gives an affecting portrayal of someone whose experience with Hanna makes him a conflicted young man and changes him for life while other women his age are falling all over him. It's actually also a male fantasy where an innocent teen is given private lessons in pleasure by an older woman.

Not much is required from Ralph Fiennes as the older Michael except look depressed most of the time.He apparently stands for the generation of Germans whose willful ignorance of what was happening to the Jews left lasting implications on the entire German psyche, but it's just too bad for him that the role of the younger Michael is just more colorfully interesting and has more meaningful scenes.

By: Mario Bautista

CLINT EASTWOOD made two films last year: "Changeling" and "Gran Torino". "Changeling" got an Oscar best actress nomination for Angelina Jolie, but it did poorly at the box office. "Gran Torino" was ignored by academy voters, but it's a blockbuster and has so far raked in more than $120 million at the box office.

It starts with the funeral of the wife of Walt Kowalski (Clint), a Korean War veteran who's now an irascible old curmudgeon. He lives alone with his dog and is alienated from his materialistic sons and grandchildren. He turns down the offer of a young priest, Fr. Janovich (Christopher Carley), to help him. He also feels bad that their neighborhood is now populated by Asian immigrants and their gangs.

He ignores the Asian family who lives next door whose son, the shy Thao (Bee Vang), tried to steal Walt's treasured 1972 Gran Torino car as ordered by his relatives who formed a gang of thugs. Walt threatens to shoot him with his rifle so he runs away. Thao doesn't really want to be a member of the gang and when the goons try to force him to join them, he fights and Walt comes to his rescue with his shotgun once more, ordering the punks to get off his lawn. Because of this, Walt becomes a hero for the Asians in the community who bring him all sorts of gifts. They're mostly from Laos and Thailand. They helped the Americans during the Vietnam war and settled in the American Midwest through the help of Lutherans.

Walt also later rescues Thao's elder sister, Sue (Ahney Her), from a group of street goons who try to molest her. Thao is made to serve Walt for trying to steal his car and eventually, they become a team of mentor and student as Walt is a skilled handyman with a good collection of tools. Sue invites Walt to a party in their house and he meets her relatives. He later tells himself: "I have more in common with these gooks than with my own spoiled, rotten family." This is after his son told him he should move to a nursing home so they can sell his house. When the Asian gang continues harrassing Thao, who has become his good friend, Walt realizes that the future of Thao will never be good with the gang around. So he makes a final decision.

Written by Nick Schenk and directed by Clint himself, "Gran Torino" is easy to dismiss as a simplistic anti-racism parable, but what it shows is the touching transformation of a sad and prejudiced old man into a caring neighbor who makes the protection of Sue and Thao his personal mission. Clint gives a sterling portrayal of a man whose biases are erased by his friendship with his Asian neighbors. He has won as Oscar best director award but he has never won for acting, so he probably acted in this film hoping he'd get affirmation, too, as an actor. But the academy members ignored him.

late John Wayne, also an icon in Hollywood like Clint, won before for his portrayal of an aging cowboy in "True Grit". Everyone knows it's a sentimental win and no one complained. Honestly, Clint in "Gran Torino" gives a much more touching portrayal as an annoying old man who gains redemption as a fatherly figure to his oppressed neighbors, but academy voters probably think he already has two Oscars as best director so he no longer needs another one for acting.

If you think that Clint will be his usual Dirty Harry self who punishes the villains singlehandedly, you'd be in for a surprise. But come to think of it, he still does that, although in a totally different manner that will surely affect viewers.

Clint is really so talented that he also composed the film's music and fetching theme song. He is superbly supported by his Asian co-stars. Bee Vang as Thao has the right chemistry with Clint in showing the development of their friendship that is ala-Scrooge and Tiny Tim. Ahney Her as Sue brings energy to her role and shines especially in that scene where she tours Walt around their house and she retorts to his racist comments with her own witty quips.

By: Mario Bautista

Will Smith has been nominated in the Oscars several times but he has yet to win. He probably thinks "Seven Pounds" will do the trick. Trouble is, the Oscar voters totally ignored it, unlike his "Pursuit of Happyness" for which he got nominated. Both films are directed by Gabriele Muccino, an Italian.

Told in a non-linear fashion, it starts with Will calling up 911 to say someone's committing suicide and it's him. From there, the movie is told in a series of flashbacks that might confuse slow-thinking viewers. Ostesinbly, Will plays an IRS agent named Ben Thomas. Later we learn that he studied in the prestitious Massachusetts Institute of Technology and was really a rocket scientist. He used to live in a beautiful house by the ocean but he has given this up to stay in a small motel where he has deadly jellyfish in an aquarium for a pet. More sporadic flashbacks show him being involved in a car crash that changed his life.

He is presently investigating some seven people. One is Emily Posa (Rosario Dawson), who needs heart transplant but she has a rare blood time so a donor is long time in coming. Another one is Ezra (Woody Harrelson), a blind pianist in need of a pair of new eyes. There's also a boy in need of a bone marrow transplant and a battered Hispanic woman (Elpidia Carillo of "Babel") who needs to escape from her abusive boyfriend.

At first, you'd think Ben is an uncaring asshole who abuses Ezra on the phone. But his mysterious actions all have a valid explanation and he obviously has a specific plan as he even persuades his friend (Barry Pepper) to help him carry it out. In the end, you'd either conclude that he's a saint on a mission of redemption or just a conscience-stricken sonovabitch who should really pay for his sins. Enough spoilers now. Suffice it to say that the film is an unabashed tearjerker whose main aim is to make you cry with all its plot contrivances aimed to elicit so much sentimentality.

Honestly, despite the silliness of some of the plot turns, it did succeed in moving us in that scene where Emily and Ezra finally meet. Heartbreaking but manipulative and cheap. But in hindsight, what Ben should have done is seek professional help as a grief counselor can assist him sort out his guilt feelings in a more productive way.

And why did he allow himself to get so close to Emily, even going to bed with her, when he already has resolved what he meant doing? Didn't he even consider what he might feel after the conclusion of his plan? It's just so unfairly cruel for her to be treated that way. Didn't the director realize this or he just chose to ignore to give his movie a semblance of romance? As for the acting, Smith is a charming actor with lots likeable charisma, but he's attempt here at serious acting looks so awkward in some scenes with a perpetually pained expression plastered on his face. Honestly, he entertained us more as "Hancock".

Will announces at the very start of the movie: “It took God seven days to create the world, and it only took me seven seconds to shatter mine.” With regard to this, a legitimate question the film raises is: are some sins really unforgivable? Of course, from the Christian point of view, the question is rethorical since God gave us His only Son to save us from our sins. We think the Oscar-nominated film, "The Reader" (for which Kate Winslet might win her first Oscar best actress award) explores this theme of guilt and pain in a more profound and affecting manner. If ever, the most successful message the movie imparts is that when you drive, don't text.

By: Mario Bautista

Serious Film aficionados are lucky in that most of the films nominated in the Oscars are now being shown in our theaters, so they shouldn't miss the rare opportunity of watching them on the big screen. One them is "Vicky Cristina Barcelona" and this is cause for rejoicing for those who look up to Woody Allen as a topnotch filmmaker since most of his last films were not at all shown here, like "Matchpoint" and "Cassandra's Dream."

At first, we thought "Vicky Cristina Barcelona" is the full name of one woman. It turns out that the movie is about two friends, Vicky (Rebecca Hall) and Cristina (Scarlett Johannson) and the summer they spent in sunny Barcelona, Spain. Vicky, a brunette, is the one who gets an invitation from her relatives there. She is a bit uptight and goes to Barcelona mainly to do research for her architectural thesis about Catalan culture. Cristina, a blonde, is a short filmmaker and more fun-loving.

While attending an art exhibit in Barcelona, the two friends meet a charismatic painter, Juan Antonio (Javier Bardem), who allegedly tried to kill his wife. Later in a cafe, he approaches their table and invites them to fly with him to the town of Oviedo for the weekend where he intends to bed them both. Cristina is adventurous and willing to go but Vicky is turned off by his being too fresh. Vicky is more strait-laced and about to be married to her boyfriend Doug (Chris Messina) in New York. Although she's against the idea, she still goes with them to be Cristina's chaperone. But Cristina gets sick while they are there and it's Vicky who goes sightseeing with Juan Antonio and ends up going to bed with him.

They return to Barcelona and Vicky is disconcerted by her dalliance with Juan Antonio. She gets a call from Doug who says they should get married in Spain. She sees her relative, Judy (Patricia Clarkson), kissing a man who's not her husband. Judy warns her that she might also end up like her who's not happily married.

Cristina moves in with Juan Antonio and they're doing fine until someone calls him up to tell him his ex-wife, Maria Elena (Penelope Cruz), tried to kill herself. With no place where she can stay, Maria Elena moves back in Juan Antonio's house and Cristina personally witnesses their fiery fights. They later become a threesome, with the very talented Maria Elena encouraging Cristina to explore her talent in photography.

The movie is another one of writer-director Woody Allen's personal explorations about the vagaries and intricacies of love and relationships. One thing that turns us off in the movie is the monotonous voice-over narration by a know it all narrator who only underlines what's already obvious and can be very intrusive without offering that much insight. Doesn't Allen know that movies are meant to show visually, not just tell verbally? The movie is obviously meant to be a comedy, no wonder it won the best film in the musical or comedy category of the recent Golden Globe Awards. But it's not really that funny. All you'll get are some chuckles here and there as many of the jokes don't work in a laugh out loud manner. In hindsight, we think what Allen is trying to impart is that love is seldom permanent since hearts can be fickle and minds are changeable. What one loves or desires at one moment may no longer be so in the next year or so. This is the perfect movie for those who do not believe in commitment and fidelity.

But the acting is good. Rebecca (who's a British playing the role of an American) is terrific as a woman so sure of herself until Bardem throws her off balance. Scarlett has worked a number of times with Allen and is now very comfortable with him so she gives a very relaxed and natural portrayal of Cristina. But they'r easily eclipsed by Penelope Cruz (who's nominated as best supporting actress in the Oscar for her acting here) as the spunky spitfire who even seduces Scarlett in the darkroom. Her volatile portrayal makes you realize why Juan married her then divorced her as they are like oil and water that just won't mix. After his Oscar-winning role as the creepy psychotic killer in "No Country for Old Men", Bardem shows here how versatile is in playing the role of the irresistibly charming artist.

The other character in the movie is the city of Barcelona itself. It's obvious Allen has falled in love with it and photographs it beautifully, loving the architecture of Antonio Gaudi. He also gets to use a nice upbeat Spanish title song for the opening and the ending of the movie.

After two historical war films, "Flags of Our Fathers" and "Letters from Iwo Jima", Director Clint Eastwood now brings to the big screen the real life case of a 9-year old boy, Walter Collins, whose disappearance in 1928 led to the exposure of a series of murders and the revamp of the corrupt L.A. Police Department. "Changeling" is written by former journalist Michael Straczynski who's best known for "Murder She Wrote".

Angelina Jolie plays Christine Collins, a single mother who works as a telephone switchboard supervisor. Her world revolves on her son, Walter (Gattlin Griffith), a good boy. On March 10, 1928, she is required to work on a Saturday. She tells Walter she'll be home before dark. When she returns home, he is nowhere to be found. She reports this to the cops but she's told most kids eventually return home safely and they have to wait until a 24-hour waiting period ends. They later do work on the case but days pass by and nothing is happening.

Five months later, Capt. JJ Jones (Jeffrey Donovan) tells Christine they have found their son in Illinois and a reunion is set up in front of the press to help beef up the police's bad image. But it turns out the boy found by the police is an impostor and she becomes very vocal about the mistake of being given a changeling who's 3 inches shorter than her Walter and is not even recognized by his dentist and teacher.

To silence her, the cops commit her at the psychopathic ward where she meets other women put away there to stifle their complaints about police wrong-doing. A prostitute, Carol Dexter (Amy Ryan of "Gone Baby Gone"), teaches her how to play along with their sadistic doctor, Dr. Steel (Dennis O'Hare). Christine finds an ally in a popular radio preacher, Rev. Gustav Briegleb (John Malkovich), who has no hesitation in attacking the corruption of the police force. Rev. Gustav demands her release just before she gets subjected to shock treatment.

Another cop, Det. Lester Ybarra (Michael Kelly) is in search of a teenage boy, Sanford Clark (Eddie Alderson), who got into the U.S. illegally from Canada. He goes to the Northcott ranch in Wineville to look for him. When the boy is apprehended, he narrates a hair-raising story about how he and his serial killer uncle. Gordon Northcott (Jason Butler Harner), abducted and dismembered 20 boys. He identifies Walter's picture as one of their victims. This case became notoriously known as The Wineville Chicken Coop Murders and it also became one of the most infamous criminal investigations in Southern California during its time.

The police chief tries to cover things up, but Rev. Gustave gets the free services of a good lawyer, S.S. Hahn (Geoff Pierson), and brings the Collins case to the City Council hearings. Christine then faces not only the cops but also the trial of Northcott, the serial murderer who teases her with the truth about her son right until his death sentence in San Quentin prison is served, with him singing "Silent Night" up to the very end.

The film loses its emotional impact when it strays from its focus on Christine's story and devotes more time on the subplot about the investigation that leads to the discovery of the serial killer. But Clint Eastwood does a successful job in interweaving the two narrative threads. Of course, Christine's personal story is really more absorbing since the grief of a mother losing her son is heartredning. We're just wondering, though, why Christine didn't right away present any photo of her son that would prove that the boy presented to her is fake? Of course, today, that will no longer be a problem since it's easy to resort to DNA testing.

Angelina is impressive as the no-nonsense assassin in the earlier action film, "Wanted", and just like in "A Mighty Heart" (also based on a true story but never released here, where she played the widow of slain journalist Daniel Pearl), she's also superb as Christine. She starts as a happy mom who later reacts to her son's disappearance as any mom would. But as days pass by, her anger and determination swell up until she becomes the nemesis of the entire LAPD. Giving standout support are Jason Butler Harner as the sinister psychotic murderer, Geoff Pierson as Christine's authoritative lawyer, and John Malkovich in a very muted performance as the crusading preacher.

The film has great production values, particularly the cinematography by Tom Stern (who also did Eastwood's "Million Dollar Baby"), the period design by James Murakami (who also did Eastwood's "Letters from Iwo Jima"), the costumes by Deborah Hopper (who also did Eastwood's "Mystic River" and "Million Dollar Baby"), and the poignant musical score by Eastwood himself. Visually, it can compare to some other superb films about Los Angeles in the past, like "Chinatown" and "L.A. Confidential". Some viewers might complain that the film has an open-ended ending and they'd want a more definite closure. But sad to say, what happened to Walter is really unresolved in real life. To find more about the case on which the film is based, just type Wineville Chickencoop Murders on the net and you'd be able to read various other details not supplied in the film.