A Prairie Home Companion is a film about the last program of a live radio variety show by the same name. With a host of acting talent, this cacophony of kooky characters somehow seamlessly melds into a graceful, albeit haphazard waltz. The understated, dry humor is delivered with smooth precision and the country music swathes its viewer in cozy familiarity. As in most ensemble films, tangential stories are bound to surface, which brings me to the only fault I could find in this movie... Where's the plot? Without this driving force, a film can go nowhere, no matter how elegant its aimless strides.

Verdict - This is the kind of movie best seen at home in bed with a cup of cocoa and popcorn where I can enjoy while hubby falls asleep comfortably and uninhibited.

Riding the wave of 'Superman Returns', My Super Ex-Girlfriend looks like a spin-off with no centripetal force. Uma Thurman plays the psycho-super hero licking her wounds and exacting vengence on Luke Wilson for breaking up with her.

In theory this could have been a cute movie - harmless fun that, with proper release timing, might have made some people some money. However, instead of a lively spoof, this film is bogged down by very grey visuals, dismal acting and no momentum.

There are different types of comedies, some subtle and understated, others more physical even slapstick. This film attempts the latter, therefore relying heavily on the actors' abilities regarding body language, facial expression and chemistry. They do not deliver. Both actors come across flat and one-dimensional. A very drab Wilson could have incorporated more debonaire into his character, and Uma, while slightly better, has diffculty combining neurotic and cute and sexy, despite her extensive experience playing each of these roles separately.

It seems that the extra pounds Luke Wilson has put on have encumbered his comic skills as well. While attempting the regular-guy look, his plastered hair affords him the charisma of a toad, uncannily resembling Adam Sandler in 'Little Nicky'. Why would glamorous Uma fall for him? Perhaps she would not, though never have I seen Uma's glow so wan. The dark hair makes her face absolutely gaunt and haggard. Superman only needed glasses to convince the clueless Lois Lane he was Clark Kent. Then why in this spin-off comedy must Ms. Thurman compromise her super-model visage?

The trailer, of course, shows the best this movie has to offer. Even here the brightest thing about it is the choice of peppy background music.

Verdict - Anything but super, the only way to salvage this film would be if "Super Ex" found herself a "Super Beau", so that we can all move on in our lives.

Little Miss Sunshine is yet one more independent road-trip movie, though this one actually seems worth the ride. The Hoovers, a fragmented family of misfits, embark on a cross-country trek to the "Little Miss Sunshine" pageant, the pinnacle of aspirations of its junior member, Olive.

Forgive me for gushing, but this looks like a delicious little movie that does everything right. A crowd-pleaser, no doubt, this film pokes fun at its characters with such wit, while loving them to pieces. The acting - superb. The entire cast manages a happy coexistence between the endearing and ridiculous, they truely feel like family. The washed-out color palate visuals, so appropriate for the dusty ride. And the screenplay... ahhh...finally someone who can write.

Both trailers are great. The first is a more sober, nonetheless hillarious, introduction to the family. Trailer 2 is fabulous; fast-pace, punchline after punchline leaving the impression that unlike most comedies, where all the goodies are in the trailer, this movie is bursting at the seams with humor.

Verdict - A gem! My personal must-see of the summer.

In The Puffy Chair, the Duplass brothers' premiere production, "Peter Pan" (Josh/Mark Duplass) and "Wendy" (Emily/Katherine Aselton) set off on a quest for the fountain of youth in the form of a giant purple Lazy Boy Josh plans to present to his father as a birthday gift. On the way one very lost boy, his brother Rhett, joins them.

This is a movie about the post-college generation still floating in limbo, grasping at their evanescent youth in spite of their biological clocks. More likely to watch cartoons, read comic books and play in a band, this group just refuses to grow up. Commitment of any sort - taboo, above all the holy union of matrimony. Whether this film is a sly critique or glorification is hard to say. Surely there is much to criticize, yet Josh is presented as "normal" compared to his neo-flower-child brother (i.e., at least Josh doesn't spend hours contemplating his navel). My guess is that Mr. Pan drops Wendy for twisting his arm to grow up. Contrary to her assertion, she doesn't love him anyway, but her own prosaic dream of marriage and its ensuing appendices. Dad doesn't seem too happy with his present, either.

The film has the look and feel of reality t.v., a genre so popular among the twentysomething crowd it is about. The digital camera extreme close-ups cater to these voyeuristic tendencies, while the fuzzy fade-outs may represent their emotional maturity (or their pot-head state of consciousness). The acting is relaxed and genuine. The screenplay may just be too authentic and ineloquent to be tolerable (Does Josh call his girlfriend "dude" instead of a more gender-appropriate term of endearment because he is conserving precious virgin brainspace?).

As for the trailer - one must always bestow special allowances upon "indie" films. If the movie is a comedy, please show us a few jokes in the trailer.

Verdict - This movie is made by, about and for the escapist, self-centered 20+ generation, attracting mainly its constituents.

In the geopolitical atmosphere today where oil, controlled by fundamentalists and "black gold barons", equals power, the oil industry must thwart off attacks by "eco-friends" and political activists alike. Here are two films that challenge this Goliath from different angles and shed much light, though slanted no doubt, on the subject. Both are "documentaries with an agenda", and must be viewed with a descerning eye.

Whether false prophecy or the harbinger of a truely dire ecological future, An Inconvenient Truth, has evolved over a decade from low-tech speeches, to power-point presentations, culminating in what appears a most impressive documentary by Al Gore. "The man who used to be the next president of the United States of America" gives an engaging and animated delivery, exploiting his political celebrity to the hilt. Though he claims he's done with politics for good, it seems like such a waste after such flattering publicity.

The trailer, while bombarding you with cold (hot?) facts, is nonetheless basicly an appeal to the heart. Beginning with a bang, literally, and a barrage of disaster scenes, the ensuing aforementioned punchline is the perfect respite. Then a petition to the public starting with Americans (Hurricane Katerina) and eventually including all of humanity. The trailer ends with Gore's "rallying cry". I do hope that beyond asserting the problem of global warming, a solution will be proposed and evidence of its effectiveness given. Without that, the film is essentially a horror movie. The name of this film is, in my opinion, an audacious misnomer. No matter how worthy the cause, (preventing global warming is high up there on my list), one must never call a theory truth, even a very well established one with much scientific backing as this is.

If Mr. Gore can't remedy our ecological crisis, Chris Paine presumes to in his Who Killed the Electric Car. This stylish trailer does its share of finger-pointing at those who are out to destroy the panacea for global warming, pollution, Mid-East unrest, and rising oil prices, i.e., the electric car.

The trailer presents its case with a more "mature voiced" voice-over than generally used, bestowing a certian credibility even before providing the facts. The new-age music, cool car visuals, and celebrity appearances afford the necessary vamp to counter the old guys and their accusations. Question - what car does Mr. Paine drive?

Verdict - Two noteworthy documentaries, though with such one-sidedness, the word propaganda comes to mind.

In The Namesake, an adaptation of Pulizer Prize-winning Jhumpa Lahiri's novel, Gogol Ganguli charts his journey to self-definition. Caught in emotional tug-of-war, he must reconcile between his Indian heritage and modern American life.

I actually read and thoroughly enjoyed the book, leaving much room for letdown. It will be a great challenge for a motion picture to capture Lahiri's subtle and sensitive portrayal of her characters or her elegant, precise choice of words. Where Gogol is depicted as very human; weak and selfish at times, yet essentially good, the film is bound to romanticize, rendering our hero an idyllic victim of circumstances.

That excluded, the trailer is skillfully put together; catching one's attention with some good punchlines (this is not a romance/comedy as presented in the synopsis), the second part, a run of poignant scenes, drawing one in further.

Now for some nitpicking - I could not resist. While the screenplay tries to stay true to the source, evident by entire sentences I recognize, certain facts are altered. Gogol was not born in New York, but in Cambridge, Mass. Nowhere in the book does it mention that Gogol shaves his hair as a sign of mourning (I won't say for whom, so as not to spoil the story). I guess this is almost prerequisite of a book adaptation. Kal Penn is a grungy-looking, albeit complex hence apt Gogol.