Ed Zwick's "Defiance" trumps the Hollywood system and ultimately delivers a movie (and story) that's worth watching. This little known story about a group Jewish partisans/survivors who withstood World War II in a Bellarussian forest is dramatized for the benefit of the film, but the end result feels true. Indeed, in a film where the direction and cinematography are particularly stellar, there's a quiet inspiration about the story that's tough to resist.

Though at times predictable, I found "Defiance" to be a compelling and worthwhile film to engage in. This is another solid effort from Zwick.

Much ado about nothing.  Well, not entirely.  "Twilight" is a fairly well balanced movie that is as understated an event picture that I can ever remember.  While I found the moderate pacing to be refreshing, I couldn't help but notice that "Twilight" would have played better as a mini-series on HBO.  Overall, it's an interesting story, especially for teens and romantics, but I would have liked to have seen just a bit more energy on the screen to merit its theatrical status. Hopefully the sequel will have some more zip.

There are times in one's movie going lifetime that he or she will bear witness something wonderful and inspiring.  On the downside, there will also be moments when said viewer will be stunned by something so deplorable that it will take many days before the right words can be mustered to describe the experience.  The latter speaks to the experience that is "Punisher: War Zone," a movie so poorly made that it is genuinely unwatchable and quite insulting to sit through.  Honestly, the manner in which the actors were directed to deliver their dialogue, I could make a case that this was a movie that was intended for 5 year olds if it weren't so violent.  I just hope that the careers of Ray Stevenson and Dominic West, both of whom are exceptional actors, can survive this abysmal wreck. Crass, idiotic and gory to a fault, "Punisher: War Zone" should be ashamed of itself.