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The three Oscar-nominated songs that were performed on the awards show last month did little to warm me up to the film. In fact I had to leave the room on two occasions. But on one level I was actually looking forward to watching the film because I am fond of the film's star, Amy Adams. She had been genuinely enchanting in a small indie film called

President Bush is expected to make big promises Tuesday in his State of the Union address about conserving energy and breaking America's oil addiction. But business leaders and environmental groups say the Bush approach isn't likely to be tough enough.

I think that there is more visual innovation in animation occurring on American TV than in American animated features (I won't even mention the great stuff being made on a regular basis in Japan and increasingly in South Korea). The boldly animated

Just to clear up any confusion, although much of the story is set in Iran, the film was made in France and in the French language. That is because Satrapi and co-filmmaker Vincent Paronnaud both live in Paris, and Satrapi was educated in French schools. But ultimately her film attains a very universal appeal. For one thing, the animation style is simple and appealing. In adapting the graphic novels, Satrapi and Paranoud remain very faithful to the hand drawn style of the books. This is more like

The Visitor focuses on a widowed Connecticut economics professor named Walter Vale (Richard Jenkins). One day he arrives at his little used New York…

While sequels such as Oceans 13 and Spider-Man 3 can think of nothing better than slapping a new number on the end of the titles for each successive film, the Die Hard series has at least had some fun with their titles offering up Die Harder, Die Hard with a Vengeance and now Live Free or Die Hard (opening June 29 throughout San Diego). Bruce Willis returns for his fourth outing as maverick cop John McClane.

For

"Bedtime Stories" (opening December 25 throughout San Diego) is an excellent movie. It's the kind of movie where you can have a family outing and everyone can enjoy the film. It is about this guy who owns a hotel and sells it to another guy named Naughtingham under one condition: his son is to run the hotel when he is older. Little does he know that his son Skeeter (Adam Sandler) would be running repairs instead of the actual hotel. Some years later when Skeeter and his sister are fully grown and his sister has two children, Skeeter is asked to babysit his niece and nephew. They have been deprived of almost everything that makes life fun by their mother and it is up to Skeeter to correct that. He feeds them junk food and lets them watch TV. They have a pet guinea pig with ridiculously huge eyes that seems to be the main point of almost all the jokes. When the first night is coming to a close Skeeter decides that he should tell the kids a good story to finish the day. He comes up with a story that basically narrates his own life and how it is going down hill. The kids chime in every now and then with their own little twists, like having it rain gumballs or that he will save a damsel in distress. Skeeter soon finds out that everything that the children say will come true. He has all sorts of fun with this like trying to get himself a bright red Ferrari for free but because they don't say so, it never happens. Unfortunately Skeeter's boss is going to tear down the kid's elementary school to build his new hotel. So Skeeter tries to get the kids to help him with his ideas to save the day.

An Egyptian band made up of police officers has been invited to an Arab cultural center is Israel. But the men - all dressed in uniforms that you'd consider military in style if it weren't for their soft, powder blue color - are dropped off at the wrong town. Stranded out in the dessert with no Israeli money and significant language barriers, the men initially find the locals less that happy about their arrival. But the men, who look so desperately out of place, soon win the sympathy of a local restaurant owner (Ronit Elkabetz). She offers them food and finds them all a place to sleep as they await a driver to take them to the correct town.

But the controversy over Carter's book began with just its title, and it may have stirred more controversy than even the soft-spoken man from plains had anticipated. Demme almost makes a running gag of the fact that the first question Carter is inevitably asked is why such a provocative title? Fresh Air's Terry Gross suggests a tamer title, but Carter insists that he did want it to be provocative. But the problem is that some people seem unable to get past the title to read the book and allow Carter to make his case. &