Proviews from the past few days.

Home Alone - (Chris Columbus;1900;USA)
A kid left home alone during Christmas must defend his home from burglars.
Has the quirky fun of John Hughes, although with the bland direction of Columbus. However it still ends up being a very nice family comedy. One of those films that never gets old.

A Christmas Story - (Bob Clark;1983;USA/Canada)
In the 1940's, a kid hopes to get a BB Gun for Christmas.
This may very well be the greatest Christmas film of all time, and definitely one of the greatest comedies. It sparks the child in all of us, giving it wonderful replay value. Hell, before I had the DVD I would watch it multiple times when it was played for 24 hours straight, and it never got old. The childish quality of the film is one of the highlights, such as the "fudge" scene, fantasies, and the way Ralphie's father swears. Speaking of which, I agree with Omar in how memorable Darren McGavin is in this film. One of the funniest film-fathers.

Vanilla Sky - (Cameron Crowe;2001;USA)
An imprisoned man tells a psychiatrist how he fell in love and became disfigured in an ex-lover's car crash which led to him committing a horrible crime.
Cameron Crowe takes a gritty, emotionally impacting and thought-provoking film and remakes it into a more polished one. It is entertaining with the pop-culture references and such, but it adds nothing. In fact, it actually side-tracks some of the original's messages. This film was thought-provoking when I first saw it, but after seeing the original, I felt like I was not being shown the bigger picture. Good cinematography, excellent music, and good acting but otherwise, what is the point? I still enjoy it a lot and will probably get it soon, but it is ultimately useless cinematically.

The Interpreter - (Sydney Pollack;2005;UK/USA/France)
A government agent investigates an interpreter who overhears an assassination plot.
A decent thriller which could've been good, but it fails by being too predictable. I wasn't shocked at all towards the end. In fact I predicted who would be the main twist. However what makes this a little different from other thrillers is the chemistry between Sean Penn and Nicole Kidman. Their characters go through a believable, caring relationship throughout the film. This quality enriches the film more, and makes it watchable. There are some very good moments of cinematography as well.

Four Brothers - (John Singleton;2005;USA)
Four brothers decide to avenge the murder of their mother.
An Urban western as many said, of sorts. One moment that made me feel this way is towards the end where we see Bobby walk towards the camera in the snow far outside the city, in the way any cowboy would walk down the mirage-filled background of a desert. This is directed pretty well, and has some great looks, but it ultimately falls short in being believable. It has cinematic flows seen in the past in terms of climax and twists. However it turns out to be decent, with great music, good cinematography, good acting, and Singleton's touch of talent on cetain scenes.