Bobby

"Now that Dr. King is gone, nobody left but Bobby. Nobody."

In a time of turmoil and chaos, when great men were assassinated (and we still remember) one figure rose up and caught the heart of the American public: Robert Kennedy. The film "Bobby" is a snapshot of the Ambassador Hotel on the day Bobby was shot, through the perspectives of others at the hotel.

There are the former employees Nelson (Belafonte) and John Casey (Hopkins) who come to the hotel every day, play chess and talk about the good-old-days. There are current employees: the switchboard operators (Bryant and Graham) and the kitchen staff (Fishburne, Vargas and Rodrigez). The hairdresser Miriam (Stone) who is married to the general manager Paul (Macy), and his bitter second-in-command Timmons (Slater). And the waitress in the cafe Susan (Winstead).

Then there are the guests...the superstar Virgina Fallon (Moore) and her long-suffering husband Tim (Estevez), and her manager Phil (Krumholtz). The socialites on a second honeymoon Jack (Sheen) and Samantha (Hunt). The newlyweds William (Wood) and Diane (Lohan). And the drug dealer, Fisher (Kutcher).

And finally the Kennedy campaign staff...the slackers Jimmy (Geraghty) and Cooper (LaBeof), the leaders Dwayne (Cannon) and Wade (Jackson), and the communist reporter who wants an interview Lenka (Metkina).

Its a BIG cast, but you can't help but be swept up. Yes, we all know what will happen, but by that point you believe, as the characters do, that life is going to get better not worse. It gives you hope...even when things seem hopeless. And if you can keep track of the cast (and know all their names) congrats...it's quite a feat!

Rent it once: it's powerful, but you may not agree with the sentiments of the characters or director

--: The actors give passionate performances...and it is an all-star cast. My only question is why Elijah Wood and Lindsay Lohan? Lohan was alright...but Wood wasn't right for the part. But otherwise the casting is excellent!!

Bobby (2006) 120 minutes
Director: Emilio Estevez
Starring: Harry Belafonte as Nelson
Joy Bryant as Patricia
Nick Cannon as Dwayne
Emilio Estevez as Tim Fallon
Laurence Fishburne as Edward Robinson
Brian Geraghty as Jimmy
Heather Graham as Angela
Anthony Hopkins as John Casey
Helen Hunt as Samantha
Joshua Jackson as Wade
David Krumholtz as Phil
Ashton Kutcher as Fisher
Shia LaBeouf as Cooper
Lindsay Lohan as Diane
William H. Macy as Paul
Svetlana Metkina as Lenka Janacek
Demin Moore as Virginia Fallon
Freddy Rodriguez as Jose
Martin Sheen as Jack
Christian Slater as Timmons
Sharon Stone as Miriam
Jacob Vargas as Miguel
Mary Elizabeth Winstead as Susan Taylor
Elijah Wood as William

Ratatouille

"Food always comes to those who love to cook."

Wow! Well done Pixar! I admit I own almost all the Pixar films (I don't have Toy Story and Monsters Inc.) and I enjoy watching them...but I was impressed with this film.

The story follows Remy (Oswalt), a rat who loves to cook. After being separated from his family Remy finds himself in the heart of Paris cooking, a restaurant called Gusteau named after the late-great chef (Garrett) who owned it and who is Remy's hero. After an accident in the kitchen Remy teams up with the newest employee of the restaurant, Linguini (Romano) who is hopeless in the kitchen. Together they create culinary masterpieces adored by critics and customers alike. But...life is not easy for the pair. They are taught by Colette (Garofolo) the tough female cook, watched by head chef Skinner (Holm), criticized by Remy's father Django (Dennehy) and brother Emile (Sohn)...and together they must impress the toughest food critic, Anton Ego (O'Toole) who's last review caused the owner to die and the restaurant to lose some appeal.

The story is fun. The accents are French. The scenery is divine. And you just want to eat a huge, gourmet meal afterwards (even if you've never eaten gourmet food before!). I especially enjoyed some of the commentary about critics...soo true, I think anyways. The humor is more adult in nature, but the little kids in the audience still enjoyed the film.

Dude, it's quotable: imdb was lacking in good quotes, but the dialogue was superb!

See it!: it's worth the $7 (or more) to see it...I saw it last night and I'm going again later this week!!

Ratatouille (2007) 110 minutes

Director: Brad Bird

Starring: Patton Oswalt as Remy

Ian Holm as Skinner

Lou Romano as Linguini

Brian Dennehy as Django

Peter Sohn as Emile

Peter O'Toole as Anton Ego

Brad Garrett as Gusteau
Janeane Garofalo as Colette

Will Arnett as Horst
Julius Callahan as Lalo/Francois
James Remar as Larousse
John Ratzenberger as Mustafa