Freedom To Choose

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Julianne Moore in "Freedomland"
courtesy of Sony Home Entertainment

"Freedom To Choose"

"Freedomland," now out on DVD, is a movie based on Richard Price's novel of the same name. It is packed with all the right elements for high intensity entertainment but something goes wrong. While stars Samuel L Jackson and Julianne Moore act their heads off, the movie sinks around them.

The movie concerns a young woman (Moore) who claims her son was kidnapped. Jackson plays the detective who investigates the alleged crime. There is some suspense generated by the plot but not much. It all falls apart pretty fast and most viewers will guess the outcome.

So don't be fooled by the quality of the actors involved in this movie. They are good, the movie isn't. In our land of freedom we can choose to ignore bad movies wrapped in the cloak of big name stars. Sit this one out, and wait for Jackson and Moore's next projects that hopefully will be worthy of their talents.

Guaranteed to get a better reception at your house, especially if you have kids, is "High School Musical." This film that aired on the Disney Channel a few months ago has become a phenomenon, and now that it is out on DVD its audience is expected to grow and grow and grow.

Zac Efron and Vanessa Anne Hudgens co-star as the basketball player and the science student who find they do have a lot in common. They even join together to win the lead roles in the high school musical, and everyone knows Ryan (Lucas Grebial) and Sharpay (Ashley Tisdale) always have those parts sewn up.

Critics have called this wholesome and fun movie a modern day "Grease" and the songs are infectious and the leads charming. Parents can finally have a movie in the house that is perfectly entertaining for the kids and suitable for the entire family.

So mark this one down as a sure to please entertainment event. Buy a copy and take it home to make your kids happy, happy, happy.

Your younger kids will also be happy if you take them home "Growing Up With Pooh." The new segments of this series are "Love and Friendship" and "It's Playtime With Pooh." You can also get new re-priced editions of "Friends Forever" and "A Great Day For Discovery."

This is a lot of "Pooh" and his friends but kids can never get enough. Plus these DVD's have tons of extras to make them even more enjoyable. So get all of this "Pooh" activity now.

Also out on DVD is "It's A Small World Of Fun." This is a collection of animated movies starring Mickey, Goofy, Pluto and others. Plus the adventures take place in various countries around the globe.

Your kids will get some geography lessons and some Disney fun time as they watch these movies. So get the whole set and sit back and let the kids have one amazing fun filled adventure after another with "It's A small World of Fun."

For adults we have the modern day love story titled "London." In this film the title is not for the city we all know but is actually the name of the character played by Jessica Biel. She is the supposedly true love of Syd (Chris Evans) but they have drifted apart.

Though he spends most of his life in a drugged out state he does realize he wants this woman, but can he have her? At her going away party he decides to go for it and try to get her back.

Jason Statham ("The Transporter") co-stars in this film that is not worth the talent it incorporates. Nothing seems to work to bring this to a unified effort and the stars just finally seem to give up on it. Maybe the plot is too convoluted or just too shallow. It is difficult to tell which is which.

Much better is "Duma," the tale of a boy and his cheetah. In this family film from Carroll Ballard young Xan (Alexander Michaletos) has a pet cheetah. Rather than let it be sold to captivity he decides to give it its freedom. This begins an adventure to return the cheetah to the wilds.

Hope Davis, Campbell Scott and Eamonn Walker co-star in this beautifully filmed and capably acted family film. Watch it with your entire family and enjoy family filmmaking at its best.

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