Last week I made the supreme sacrifice and wrote about chick flicks, and endured hours of painful pink scented research.

This week I made no sacrifices and instead watched movies with my friend who had just had her wisdom teeth taken out.
We watched Harold and Maude, and if anyone reading this hasn?t seen it already, don?t even bother to finish reading this week?s column. Hop in your car, drive to the video store, and rent it now!

But while I could write a whole column about just how awesome Harold and Maude is ? hilarious faked suicides and Cat Stevens music ?I?m sure that film reviewers in 1971 did a good enough job of that when it was released.
So let?s move right along to movies that are being released in 2005.

Two movies come out this week that are worth mentioning, and a whole bunch more that are not worth mentioning.
Red Eye and Supercross are both definitely not worth mentioning.

Supercross got zero stars (or less) from most reputable reviewers and it definitely isn?t worth mentioning.
Red Eye is also not worth mentioning. Every single week two or three horror movies come out, and they?re all pretty weak.

This is not to say that Red Eye is particularly weak ? in fact, from what I?ve read, it might actually be pretty good ? but how did Wes Craven, the guy who directed Nightmare on Elm Street and Scream sink to doing Scream 3 and Cursed?

The fact is that before I devote a whole column to horror, there had better be a really good horror movie coming out, and there hasn?t been a really good horror movie in at least five years.

Meanwhile, The 40 Year-Old Virgin hit theatres his week, and even if I wasn?t going to write about it, this is one that I was definitely going to see.

This is about as ?guy movie? as it gets. Within five minutes of it starting, there?s a close-up of an underwear-clad erection.

The plot of The 40 Year-Old Virgin is pretty much summed up in the title. Steve Carell plays a 40 year-old virgin named Andy Stitzer, and when his friends find out about this, they resolve to help him out.

The plot is mediocre and predictable, but that?s not the point of the movie (of course he?s going to have hilarious problems on the road to sex, and of course we all know how it?s going to end.)

The real genius of this movie is the dialogue between Stitzer?s friends. They talk to each other the way guys really talk to each other.

There?s about a five-minute scene where two of them are playing video games and discussing just how gay the other one is. I?ve had an almost identical experience hanging out with some of my friends.

By the way, The 40 Year-Old Virgin is also hilarious. There was one point where my cheeks hurt from laughing so much that I actually considered leaving the theatre for a couple of minutes to give them a break.

If you?re in the mood for staying in this week, Layer Cake comes out on DVD this Tuesday.

I do not have enough good things to say about this movie.
A smooth sophisticated British cocaine dealer gets pulled into an international drug feud just as he?s trying to retire from it all.

The characters are complex and engaging, and the plot moves along quickly.

The film is brilliantly shot, including some beautifully framed scenes and a few great montages.

And while parts are very graphic, none of it is gratuitous. Everything is congruent with the gritty criminal world the main character inhabits.

All in all, it?s a brilliant film.

Of course, ignore all of this if you haven?t seen Harold and Maude yet. For that matter, why are you still reading this? Go out and rent it now!






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