Frequency is one of those films that, even not great and pretty much forgettable, you'll enjoy watching again and again on TV. Frequency is a fantasy film, a time travel story, with a twist - no one actually travels in time, apart from radio waves. But Frequency is also a thriller with a twist - it's a time travel thriller -, and that's what makes it interesting.

Frank Sullivan (Dennis Quaid) is a firefighter in Queens in 1969. He's a bit of a daredevil, but lives a happy life where the important things are his wife, his kid, John, baseball, his job and his pals. Thirty years from there, John Sullivan (Jim Caviezel) is Frank's son, a tired cop who never got over the death of his father in a fire when he was six. One fall night, and as the Northern Lights hover over the house as they did thirty years before, John finds the old Ham radio his dad used to spend hours playing with, and starts speaking to a stranger who happens to also be from Queens.

Realizing that the man he's talking to is actually is father, John decides to help Frank prevent the events that caused his death thirty years ago. Now, as everyone who's ever watch a time travel movie knows, this is never without consequences. At the instant Frank's life is saved, John's life is turned upside down, in the blink of an eye. It's 1999, and his dad did not die in a fire in 69, but things are still not rosy.

After a pretty slow beginning, the film then changes into a murder story, a murder that John and Frank will try and solve separated by thirty years of history, to protect their loved ones. The story is not brilliant, but for a time travel story, it's pretty flawless, and picks up a good pace after Frank is saved for the first time. At each turn, the father must deal with a new obstacle, and the son witnesses the consequences of their combined actions. Again, the ending is predictable, and mushy, but most of the film is enjoyable to make you forget that part.

Official site here. Nice design with funny bits like 'send a message to the past'. A bit corny, but fun.

OK, I'm not going to lie to you. This is not When Harry Met Sally. This is not even Sleepless in Seattle (some will think it's a good thing). Nevertheless, it's not a bad film, as far as romantic comedies go, and it has the advantage of a very nice pair of leads and a solid supporting cast.

Bob Rueland (Duchovny - that's Mulder, for those of you who still don't know!!) is a successful architect - or something similar, he's carrying a lot of blueprints around and wear a hard hat at work - married to gorgeous and brilliant scientist Elizabeth (British actress Joeley Richardson who's been in a lot of movies lately). One night, they end up in the ER of an hospital, Elizabeth seriously injured. She dies shortly after.

In the meantime, Grace Briggs has been waiting for a heart transplant, and she's getting pretty desperate. You can guess the rest. On the same night Bob's wife dies, she gets her wish. And after meeting some time later in the family restaurant where Grace works (an Irish Italian restaurant no less! That one was so weird it, it felt like it was out of a John Irving's novel), they fell in love. Of course, Grace doesn't want to tell Bob she had a transplant, or that the letter he received anonymously to thank him for his wife's heart is really from her - sounds a bit horrid said like that, but the letter was quite touching, really.

Because that's the thing. Despite a so-so sappy script, with nothing original, really, the movie is still nice and very watchable. You can thanks the cast for that: Minnie Driver as the lively Grace with her sweet but crazy family reminiscent of Capra's movies, and Duchovny, whose dry humor and genuine pain make Bob a touching character. Don't forget also director Bonnie Hunt (who also doubles as the best friend, like she's been doing in such movies as Only You or Jerry McGuire - but then again, she does it really well), and awesome performances from Jim Belushi and old guard Carroll O'Connor and Robert Loggia.

The script is predictable, almost from beginning to end, and so well crafted that it has lost all originality - from Bob's Black vet best buddy to the songs of Sinatra and Dean Martin -, but somehow, the almost improvised acting of the cast makes up for it. In the end, you get the feeling you've been watching a long family reunion. There are worst things.

Official site here. Nothing to die for, though.

Grace Trevathan is a middle-aged housewife living in a little quiet fishermen village somewhere on the coast of Cornwall, and who has dedicated her life to her husband and her beloved orchids. When the movie starts, Grace's husband has just passed away, and she is left with their gorgeous 300-year-old house, her gorgeous greenhouse full of orchids and a not so gorgeous mountain of debts sprung by her late husband's ill-advised business investments.

Without income, her situation seems quite desperate until her young gardener Matthew asks for her help to revive some plants he's being growing in the vicar's garden - for his and a couple of friends' personal consumption. Grace accepts to help, and revives the dying plant in her greenhouse. That's when she starts wondering if her gardening skills could save her from ruin and allow her to keep her house. Decided to seize this opportunity, Grace then convinces Matthew (who doesn't need much convincing) to make this a large-scale enterprise.

This is a little reminiscent of the excellent Waking Ned in which a whole community conveniently ignored the law and moral principles for the greater good. Here, almost everyone (even the most unexpected characters) knows about Grace's little project but turns a blind eye to it and instead chooses to admire the illuminations coming from her greenhouse that lights up the sky every night. Of course, this is not Train Spotting, and by choosing cannabis and not crack cocaine and by making his main character a middle-aged conservative woman, director Nigel Cole makes it easier for the audience to accept the scheme. After all, all cannabis does is make you giggle stupidly... and Grace has no choice - still better than robbing banks, right? It works pretty well, actually, especially thanks to Brenda Blethyn's wonderful performance, and a very solid supporting cast who is either annoyed, amused or oblivious of what is going on in Grace's greenhouse.

The film loses a bit of its charm towards the end, when Grace has to travel to London and find a dealer, and the audience is reminded that what she's been doing is not only illegal but also dangerous. Of course, even the big baddy drug dealer (nicely played by Tchéky Karyo) turns out to be OK, and the movie finishes in a happy cloud of smoke and a bizarre abrupt ending. Not sure this will go nicely in Alabama, but in all, a nice feel-good movie, with better moments than others.

If you're an X-Files addict, then James Wong's name will sound familiar to you. Wong and partner Glen Morgan have delivered some of the best episodes of the show, before moving on to their own series (the ill-fated but nevertheless pretty cool Space: Above and Beyond), and being also seriously involved into the second season of the excellent Millennium.

This time, they have switched to the big screen and Wong (who directed Final Destination and co-wrote it with Morgan) brings us a pretty cool teen-horror flick with a twist and a definite X-Fily flavor to it.

In this movie, you won't have to wrack your brains to find out who amongst the main characters is the mad killer... because there is none. Not that it will prevent the body count from rising high and steady.

Alex and all of his high school class are all about to fly to France for a school trip, when the kid has a nasty vision and sees the plane explode - in, by the way, something that is the scariest plane crash scene I have ever seen in a movie.

After that, Alex doesn't want to stay on flight 180 which is about to take off. He makes a scene, and 5 students and a teacher end up by being removed from the plane - only minute before the airplane does indeed blow up right after take-off. And from there, things go downwards. So much that soon Alex and pals begin to suspect that someone, or rather something, has some unfinished business with the people who were supposed to die on flight 180 and have "cheated death". And Death is pretty pissed off about that.

So yes, one character dies after the other, and you can pretty much guess which ones are going to survive at the end (or can you?), and the acting is not very good, but the script is clever and the death scenes really cleverly done. The movies is not really scary, but will make you jump more than once, and will have you holding your breath in a very good and funny scene involving kettles, gas stoves, vodka, and computers. Morbid, but as long as you don't take it seriously, you should be all right. (You can also check out the official Web site - definitely on the morbid side too - it will even tell you the exact time of your demise... charming.)

No one makes good old-fashioned peplums anymore. Being a huge fan of Spartacus, Quo Vadis, or Ben-Hur, I am thrilled to see that the genre seems to be reborn. And thank God, Ridley Scott did it well, and the 100 million dollars spent on his film were indeed well spent.

In case you're wondering, Gladiator tells the story of Marcus Aurelius' favorite general and war hero, Maximus, who, after the Emperor death at the hand of his unstable, power-thirsty, and jealous son, Commodorus, is sentenced to death. Maximus escapes the execution (he's pretty good at kicking asses), but ends up being captured by a slave trader and sold as a gladiator in North Africa to Proximo - an ex-gladiator turned gladiator "agent" once freed by Marcus Aurelius.

Maximus is really not bothered, but put a sword in his hand and he kinda has to use it, and soon he ends up at the Coliseum, fighting in front of the new Emperor who plans on using games and bread to gain the people to his cause and get rid of the Senate. But of course, he wasn't counting with Maximus...

I'm not sure if the political plot surrounding Maximus' journey from Roman general to slave to gladiator to hero is historically accurate, but it probably would have deserved a little more time and development. But never mind, because this is a great film, with a real nasty baddie and a true hero, wonderfully played by Russel Crowe. Special mention also to Connie Nielsen who costars as Commodorus' sister and plays an interesting female character - which is not always the case in this kind of films. Very special mention as well to Ridley Scott who filmed amazing battle scenes (in and out of the arenas) and used for these a technique reminiscent of the one used by Steven Spielberg in Private Ryan.

The movie is sometimes - ok, often - over the top, but what do you expect from a peplum? It's supposed to be over the top. And Ridley Scott certainly does a great job at it. One not to miss. (You can also check out the official Web site for nice pics).

If you've never seen a Trek episode, you might not find this as amusing as I did, but this happens to be a very funny film, and an excellent spoof of the genre.

In the movie, Galaxy Quest is a cult sci-fi TV show with dodgy sets and even dodgier special effects, appalling acting and dreadful dialogs. Ten or fifteen years after its cancellation, the intrepid crew of the NSEA Protector makes a (not very good) living out of convention appearances, and shopping mall inaugurations. Until a bunch of real (although pretty dorky) aliens contacts them and asks their help in ridding the galaxy of their archenemy, a six-foot cross between a lobster and a lizard - that comes to life on screen thanks to pretty neat CGI. The nice aliens have been watching the show too, but they call it "historical documents" and believe that the Galaxy Quest crew will take command of the real ship they specially made for them and save the day.

The film is full of references to the Trek universe, from the con scenes - that were apparently shot at a real Trek event - to the expendable crewman that dies in the first 10 minutes of the episode, the Shakespearean Brit actor (played here by the excellent Alan Rickman with an impressively ugly piece of latex glued to his head), the token female crewmember (Sigourney Weaver in an hilarious Farrah Fawcett's blond wig look), and the annoying Wesley Crusher-type wiz-kid who can fly the ship with one hand tied behind his back.

Add to this very good performances from the cast (Weaver, Rickman and Tim Allen as the intrepid Commander - i.e. Jim Kirk), a good story and very decent special effects, and Galaxy Quest makes a very good spoof indeed. And if you want another laugh, check out the movie official Web site, entitled Travis Latke's Galaxy Quest Page, and built like a very badly designed fan page - with episode guide, poor quality pics, and 6 different font colors!

Yes, I know what you're thinking... what was I thinking? Well, for my defense, I will say that I didn't really want to see this movie - I after all hated every minute of There's Something About Mary, and refused to go and watch American Pie. And I was pretty sure this one wouldn't score much higher on my enjoyment scale. But, what do you know, I was wrong.

It's not always a good idea to make movies out of characters from TV skits, and from the top of my head, the only successful transposition I can think of is SNL's Wayne's World. I've watched the Harry Enfield show a few times, but I think I've never seen Kevin & Perry on TV. Doesn't matter, really. Kevin (Enfield as the teenager from hell, complete with greasy hair and loud mouth) and pal Perry (Oscar winning Kathy Burke if you please) want to go to Ibiza, where they hope to become famous DJs and lose their virginity in one go. Of course, Kevin is really pissed when he realizes Mr. and Mrs. Patterson, his Mum and Dad, are coming too. Perry doesn't mind that much. He likes Mrs. Patterson.

The jokes are lame and puerile, but funny, even the really gross ones - and believe me, there are a few of those. The movie also enjoy a solid supporting cast, a cool dance soundtrack, and the producers were clever enough to make it short. The whole thing is only about one hour and 15 minutes long, and ends before having the chance to become boring and (too) repetitive. In the end, a good movie, and a good laugh. But please, I'd rather Kevin and Perry didn't go anywhere.

Julia Roberts finally found a good part and reminded us that she is a very good actress indeed. Granted, she was good in Notting Hill, but as Erin Brockovich, she is excellent, and her in-your-face attitude, not mentioning the outrageous outfits she wears, have a welcome taste of Pretty Woman. The movie itself is not gripping, but well made enough to keep you interested during what was probably a very long and tedious legal battle. The fact that you're told right from the start that this is based on a true story probably makes the film even more touching, both because of Brockovich's struggle and the terrible ordeal these small town people have been put through.

Best line of the movie: When Erin is asked by (unbelievably) clueless hotshot lawyers how she managed to gather all the signatures needed to carry on the legal procedures, she answers, deadpan: "I just went and performed 634 sexual favors. 634 blow-jobs. (pause) I'm really quite tired." Welcome back, Julia.

It could have been a good film. It has a great subject that's getting a lot of hype about 20 years before the first man will actually leave for Mars, good actors, a good director, good special effects, a red planet that looks so real I wonder if they didn't manage to shoot it on location... so what happened? Not sure really. The script is not bad, well, at least the first part, but the ending is rushed and revealed way too early in the movie. Not mentioning the scientific inaccuracies that really annoyed Alex during the film, and I must admit, once he explained them to me, I thought they could have done better with their research.

The film is definitely hinting more towards 2001 than Star Wars (the scenes in the space ship, the pseudo philosophical message... damn, even the astronauts' helmets looked the same!), and that's too bad, because it ain't the Space Odyssey...

In the end, all we find on the red planet is a hologram of a doe-eyed alien that sure looks better than a caveman, but only manages to make the audience snigger. I think Alex was right: you don't need aliens to make a movie about Mars. After all, one of the best realistic space movies of the 90s was Apollo 13, and it was pretty much down to earth - not pun intended.

Never mind, I'm sure Hollywood has another 15 projects on the red planet up its sleeve...