Millions

"Millions" is an Irish movie about a little boy whose mother is dead. He lives in a quasi-dream state, and has the occasional chat with various dead Catholic saints.

England is going to be converting its money within the next couple of weeks and as people turn in their old pound notes, the government is transporting them by train to be burned. There is a clever robbery at the train station which diverts police attention from the train itself.

One of the robbers stays on the train where he starts systematically tossing off duffle bags of the money along the tracks. The little boy finds one and thinks God has given him a miracle.

The story becomes funny, exciting, sweet, etc., etc. The little boy is darling and his older brother has the right combination of vinegar and smarts to offset the sweetness. For those folks who don't buy into the miracle explanation, the moral dilemma is: the money doesn't belong to anyone now, it is going to be burned anyway, so why not keep it?

One of the robbers figures out the boys have one of the bags of the money and is hot on their trail. The little boy wants to give the money to various charities while the older one wants to buy real estate or put it into a savings account but he is under age. The father is clueless about what they have done until it's almost too late. I enjoyed it.

Hollywoodland

This movie is dark. It starts with the police line at George Reeves' house following the call which reported his suicide. The movie follows two different paths. One is a private eye, played by Adrian Brody ("King Kong"), who is separated from his wife and can't cheer up his little son who is depressed over "Superman's" death.

The other is a series of flashbacks that trace Reeves' career from his role in "Gone With The Wind," through a period of unemployment, then, to his dismay, his casting in the role of Superman. Reeves is capably played by Ben Affleck ("Pearl Harbor" and "Jersey Girl").

He has a fairly long fling with the wife of one of Hollywood's prominent producers (Bob Hoskins, who bears absolutely NO resemblance to the guy in "Mrs. Henderson!"). She buys him a house, jewelry, wristwatches, clothes, a car, etc., etc., etc. When he goes to New York after the TV show is cancelled, he is trying to get a job as a director. While there, he meets an ambitious starlet who immediately seduces him and convinces him he "has never felt this way before."

The movie depicts three options. We get to watch all three.

• An accidental shooting by the starlet girlfriend,
• a murder contracted for by the producer, and
• a suicide.

All in all, everyone does a good job, particularly Affleck and Hoskins, but it really is a downer.

Cars

Most of you have already seen this, but if you haven't, here is my "take" on it. (This is a Walt Disney/Pixar co-production, with the spectacular CGI that Pixar ["Shrek I & II"] has developed and which has set the standard for today's animated films!)

Watch for:

• "Serpentine! Serpentine!" (Pixar's homage to the 1979 original "The In-Laws," one of the funniest road movies ever made.)
• The Hummer with the Schwarzenegger accent which represents California's Governator.
• "Incoming!" from the military jeep when a runaway vehicle approaches.
• That same military jeep's rage at the Jimi Hendrix version of the "Star Spangled Banner" each morning.
• Organic everything from the hippie VW bus.
• The amazing studies in perspective during the speedway smash- ups.
• The nighttime lighting both on the interstate and off...
• Paul Newman is an experienced race car driver, how appropriate to voice a 1951 Hudson Hornet, "Doc Hudson"!
• The loving tribute to Route 66. (If you watch the DVD extras, you will see this is no coincidence!)
• The outrageous fins on the automobiles from the early to mid-50s.
• The little blue VW Beetles flying around.
• Doc Hudson's blue eyes...smile...
• The authentic desert landscape, Arizona, New Mexico, Nevada... You know... Route 66...
• This is a good history lesson about the impact of the Interstate Highway System, which was built during the Eisenhower Administration, on small American towns bypassed into dusty oblivion.
• My guess would be that "Lightning McQueen" is named that because Steve McQueen was also a race car driver...

I hope you enjoy this as much as the rest of us did. It was given a Grade "A" by other reviewers!