Vampires have been having a good run with Let the Right One In winning over critics and Twilight scoring well at the box office. Now the werewolves rear their furry heads to challenge the vampire dominance. Underworld: Rise of the Lycans is the second sequel to Underworld, which was a kind of Romeo and Juliet of the mythical beast crowd. Kate Beckinsale is gone, I guess she's gotten too good for black leather bodices, but Rhona (Doomsday) Mitra looks almost just like her but playing the new character of Sonja. But the interesting piece of casting here is Michael Sheen (yes the man who's played Prime Minister Tony Blair and TV personality David Frost) as one of the rebellious werewolves, Lucian. This marks his third outing as the werewolf trying to incite a revolution. Guess he didn't feel like he was above a vampire/werewolf action film. Or else this has been sitting on the shelf for a spell. Anyway, this could be silly fun and the effects should be good since visual effect man Patrick Tatopoulos is now at the helm. So which side are you on? Bloodsuckers or lycans?

Jennifer Aniston and Owen Wilson pick out a pup in Marley and Me (20th Century Fox)

With the holidays behind me and vacation over (sob, sob) I can start getting caught up on the holiday releases. Hollywood left a few lovely gifts under the tree last month as well as a few lumps of coal. Let me first quickly dispense with the lumps of coal in this post.

Marley and Me (opened December 25 throughout San Diego) may be topping the box office - probably luring unsuspecting viewers in with its adorable puppy ads - but the film flops. At the risk of sounding like a curmudgen, I hated this film because it failed to give me enough of a puppy fix. Its worst failing is that it never gives the titular dog enough of a personality. I love dogs and the trailer offered some hilarious images, most notably Marley trying to escape from a moving car. But the best bits are just that, bits and they never add up tp anything. The story, inspired by John Grogan's real life experiences with his own unruly pet, involves a young couple that gets a pet dog named Marley. Initially Marley is meant as a baby substitute but that's when Jennifer Grogan (Jennifer Aniston) is preoccupied with a career. But she quickly changes her tune and starts popping out kids to be a devoted stay-at-home-mom. That's when she grows frustrated with Marley's voracious appetite for couches. John (Owen Wilson), however, insists that Marley is part of the family.

Anita O'Day: The Life of a Jazz Singer (AOD Productions)

I have to confess that I did not know who Anita O'Day was so I came to the documentary Anita O'Day: Life of a Jazz Singer (opening January 2 at Landmark's Ken Cinema) with a fresh sense of discovery and what a wonderful treasure I found. The documentary provides a fascinating look at a woman considered by many to be one of our finest jazz singers. To her fans, this documentary may not serve up new information but it does revel in archive footage of her performances, and that is to be a satisfying treat for anyone.

O'Day died in 2006 at the age of 87 and apparently just weeks before this documentary by Robbie Cavolina Ian McCrudden was completed. The two filmmakers assemble a wealth of interviews with O'Day as well as people who knew her, worked with and admired her work. Through these interviews and extensive performance footage, the film paints a picture of a woman who presented a smiling, elegant onstage presence and maintained a fierce tenacity and amazing perseverance in life. O'Day debuted with the Gene Krupa Band in the 1940s. She made her breakthrough to a national audience in a swinging number on with trumpeter Roy Eldridge during the Gene Krupa Band's recording of "Let Me Off Uptown," which is shown in the documentary. She went on to a career that would extend over six decades. But it was a career of both highs and lows with O'Day mounting a pair of comebacks, overcoming heroin addiction, and later in life pneumonia and blood poisoning. But through it all in her interviews she maintains a feisty optimism that seems to have been the key to her survival.

Anita O'Day: The Life of a Jazz Singer is a loving tribute to an artist that deserves to be remembered.

Companion viewing: Lady Sings the Blues, A Great Day in Harlem, Let's Get Lost

Brad Pitt stars as a man who ages in reverse in The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (Paramount)

The Curious Case of Mr. Benjamn Button (opened on December 25 throughout San Diego) is amovie about a woman (Cate Blanchett) lying on her deathbed and having her daughter (Julie Ormond) read to her from a diary of a man named Benjamn Buttton (Brad Pitt). It is a story of his life and how he was born an old man and grew younger. It is his life how he remembers it. By reading the diary, the daughter learns secrets about her mother that she had never known, and one about herself that she couldn't imagine. Benjamn at a young age or rather old age (he was only seven but looked like he was 90) sees a younge girl who is the granddaughter of a lady who lives in the home where he stays. He falls in love with her but because of his appearance he is basically forbidden to be with her. Then when he is seventeen (but looks like he is in his 70s) he leaves to find a life for himself. The young girl tells him to write a postcard to her from each place he goes and he does. All through his life he finds a way to keep in touch with her. Finally, he is able to be with her when they are in the middle of life and look to be about the same age. At this point they are inseperable until they have a child.

I loved Benjamin Button. It was almost three hours long but totally worth it. It has a sad ending but an overall amazing story. The thought of an infant being born looking like an old man and then instead of aging grows to be young is just amazing. I liked how the story was told through a diary and how all sorts of secrets are found out by the woman's daughter.  I thought the story line was awsome and I loved the fact that the producers and director took their time and added all the scenes that they did. I felt that just about every scene was needed to make this film amazing. It didn't bother me that it was such a long movie. I believe this film is definitely worth spending your money on. I think everyone should see this movie at some point in their lives. 

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button is rated PG-13 for brief war violence, sexual content, language and smoking.

 --Janeane White is a senior at Mount Miguel High School. She enjoys movies and spends all her time at the theater. She is also interested in special effects makeup done in the movies. She is an honors student and is currently working towards early graduation. Some of her favorite movies include Queen of the Damned, Hellboy, The Descent, the Underworld series, and the Saw series.

Gabriel Macht stars as The Spirit (Lionsgate)

I found The Spirit (opened December 25 throughout San Diego) to be extremely dull. I thought I was walking in to see a film that was made to look like the film Sin City and have all sort of action and amazing fight scenes and an awsome story. I was sadly let down. This movie was about a guy called the Spirit who watches over Central City and takes care of the criminals so that the police don't have to. He once was a cop but died and came back to life. Now helps the cops. From his former life there was a girl that he liked when he was a kid but she ran away to be rich and powerful. She comes back because there's something shiny she wants that the villan has. The villan was a guy named Octopus (Samuel L. Jackson). He has eight of everything apparently. He is also a scientist who creates freaks of nature to try and achieve immortality. The key ingrident that he needs was being held by a girl named San Serif (Eva Mendes) who also happens to be the Spirit's old flame.

I couldn't stand this movie. In the movie Sin City certain objects would be lit up and glow in complete contrast to the rest of the setting and whatever was chosen to glow would glow flawlesly for the entire film. In this movie the Spirit's red tie and the bottoms of his shoes were chosen to glow but they would only glow some of the time instead of all the time. It made me think why would it stand out at all if it only showed sometimes. It made me think what is the reason for people to be drawn towards this guy's feet and his chest in some scenes and not others. This annoyed me. Usually I find this affect to be actually pretty cool and unique because it isn't used all the time. I was disappointed in the fact that they didn't use it properly. Another thing that caught my eye was the fact that I thought this movie would be serious and instead I found that the creators were trying to make it more of a comedy. The lines that were said and the scenes shown revealed that they were trying to make this movie funny rather then suspenseful or thrilling.

I didn't find The Spirit (rated PG-13 for intense sequences of stylized violence and action, some sexual content and brief nudity) to be entertaining and I don't recommend that you waste your time and money to go see it. I was bored with it and personally didn't want to sit down and see the whole thing.

 --Janeane White is a senior at Mount Miguel High School. She enjoys movies and spends all her time at the theater. She is also interested in special effects makeup done in the movies. She is an honors student and is currently working towards early graduation. Some of her favorite movies include Queen of the Damned, Hellboy, The Descent, the Underworld series, and the Saw series.

Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg and Tom Cruise -- the actor saw a similarity and wanted to play the German officer in Valkyrie (United Artists)

Valkyrie (opening December 25 throughout San Diego) begins with Tom Cruise speaking a few lines in German as his character, Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg, writes in a journal. But slowly the German fades and Cruise's American accent kicks in. And because he couldn't muster or didn't want to bother with a German accent, no one else in the film does either. So everyone ends up speaking in basically his or her own native accent, which left me wondering what are all those Brits doing in Germany? Okay, I don't mean to be too flippant in brushing off this film but the point I want to make is that the casting of Tom Cruise - whose acting talent is minimal and technical skills are severely limited although his box office draw is huge - doomed this film from the beginning and forced director Bryan Singer to make compromises before cameras even started to roll, and forced a talented cast to have to act down to Cruise's level. Cruise apparently became passionate about playing von Stauffenberg after noticing a similarity in their profiles. But not only did I have a hard time buying that Cruise was this one-eyed, one-armed German officer but I remained unconvinced that he was a loving husband, devoted father, and passionate patriot who was willing to risk all in order to follow his conscience and assassinate Adolf Hitler.

Adam Sandler stars in Bedtime Stories (Walt Disney)

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 conditio: 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 c orrect thst. 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.

I loved Bedtime Stories (rated PG-13 for some mild rude humor and mild language). I thought it was cute and funny. Usually Adam Sandler bugs me and I don't find him very funny. Most of his jokes are usually distasteful and inappropriate. But because this is a Disney movie all jokes are made for children and it just turned out to be a good movie. I thought the guinea pig was the funniest part. Seeing an animal with eyes that huge is just hilarious. I definitely recommend this movie to families if they are in desperate need of more quality time together. I know I enjoyed it and from the sounds of the audience so did they.

--Janeane White is a senior at Mount Miguel High School. She enjoys movies and spends all her time at the theater. She is also interested in special effects makeup done in the movies. She is an honors student and is currently working towards early graduation. Some of her favorite movies include Queen of the Damned, Hellboy, The Descent, the Underworld series, and the Saw series.

Frank Miller adapts Will Eisner's The Spirit to the screen (Lionsgate)

In the world of comics, Will Eisner and Frank Miller are legends. They were also friends who argued endlessly. "We never stopped arguing," Miller told me from New York, "He and I had the most contentious relationship you could possibly ask for. It was a Bronx Jew versus an Irish Catholic. And we both brought our best words to the argument."

Eisner passed away in 2005 but their relationship continues. Miller just adapted Eisner's groundbreaking comic The Spirit to the screen. In a way, Frank Miller was destined to work in film. His cinematic sensibility made his graphic novels Sin City and 300 look like storyboards begging to be filmed. Miller co-directed the film version of Sin City with Robert Rodriguez. But for his first solo project he's not adapting one of his own comics. Instead he's tackling the Will Eisner classic, The Spirit.

Tropic Thunder spoofed pretentious actors, bloated blockbusters, and Hollywood Awards (Dreamworks)

As the year draws to a close it's time to look back on the best and worst of 2008. I know this isn't the Oscars, but I do have a few awards I'd like to hand out. So before I get to my Top Ten, I'd  like to highlight some aard-winning performances. For Best actress and actor, Melissa Leo in Frozen River and Richard Jenkins in The Visitor get top nods for performances that are as real as they get in movies. Runners up for actress are Kate Winslet in The Reader and Cate Blanchett in The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. Honorable mentions for the actors go to Mickey Rourke in The Wrestler and Robert Downey, Jr. for Iron Man. Downey, Jr. also deserves an award for skewering his own profession in Tropic Thunder.

TROPIC THUNDER: I'm a dude playing a dude disguised as another dude...

And while we're talking about dudes playing dudes, here are two actors whose performances carried their films that's why they made my top ten. Coming in at number 10 is The Wrestler in which Mickey Rourke makes a comeback of epic stature.

THE WRESTLER: I'm very grateful to be here. A lot of people told me I'd never wrestle again... I don't hear as good as I used and I'm not as pretty as I used to be, but I'm still standing...

People may have had Rourke down for the count but in The Wrestler he proves he still has what it takes to rivet us to the screen. And speaking of riveting...

THE DARK KNIGHT: Good evening ladies and gentle-men, we are tonight's entertainment...

No one held our attention better than Heath Ledger as The Joker in The Dark Knight.

THE DARK KNIGHT: I'm not a monster, I'm just ahead of the curve...

Frank Miller and Will Eisners were friends but they also argued all the time. Miller looked to Eisner as a mentor and now he's adapting Eisner's comic The Spirit (opening Christmas Day) to the screen. Miller's own graphic novels, Sin City and 300 have been two of the best adaptations of a comic to film. One of the reasons is the cinematic nature of Miller's graphic work. That may also be the reason that Miller, who co-directed Sin City with Robert Rodriguez, is now embarking on a directing career. Eisner's The Spirit is his first solo project and here's the latest trailer courtesy of Lionsgate. Based on the trailer and the Comic-Con panels, it looks like fun.