This report contains full movie reviews of The Notebook, Ella Enchanted and we'll also take a peek at the Miramax product reel which included glimpses of Kill Bill Vol. 2, Jersey Girl, Neverland, and Bridget Jones: Edge of Reason.

THE NOTEBOOK (PG-13)
Starring Ryan Gosling, Rachel McAdams, Joan Allen, James Garner, and Gena Rowlands
Released by New Line Cinema

Upon entering the screening room, attendees were given kleenex indicating that this might be one of those processed tearjerkers.

I've never been much of a fan of Nick Cassavetes. She's So Lovely was a good movie but I wouldn't say I loved it. John Q was a movie I loathed with it's unfair and all-too-bitter look at health care. Ultimately, it was a film about terrorism and featured far too many irrelevant characters. It didn't seem to stick to it's main issue.

Suffice it to say, I didn't know what to think going into The Notebook. I knew nothing about the plot of the film. I was aware that it starred Ryan Gosling, James Garner, and Joan Allen but that was about it. After doing a little research, I discovered that names like Steven Spielberg, Jim Sheridan and Tom Cruise were once attached to it.

As The Notebook opens, James Garner appears as a sweet old gentleman who, through the aid of a notebook, hopes to help a woman (played by Gena Rowlands) suffering from Allzheimer's disease, remember who she is.

Through a flashback, we are taken back to North Carolina, 1946 and introduced to Noah Calhoun (played by Ryan Gosling), a soft spoken, andventurous young man who meets his female counterpart in the form of Allie Nelson (played by Rachel McAdams). The two have much in common and quickly fall for one another, but their union doesn't go over well with Allie's overbearing mother, who has bigger dreams for her vibrant and promising daughter.

The Notebook is one of those films in which the material could have gone either way. The screenplay could have been incredibly sappy and overly melodramatic had it fallen into the wrong actors' hands, but happily, the cast transcend the material and make it much deeper than it actually is.

Ryan Gosling is a star on the rise. He was outstanding in The Believer and equally effective in the upcoming United States of Leland. With The Notebook, the dynamic actor (who reminds me of a young Sean Penn) plays the romantic lead and he does so with understated power. Of course it takes two to tango and Rachel McAdams proves to be the perfect leading lady. This lovely young actress has appeared in The Hot Chick and the soon to be released Mean Girls, but after this, I'm sure more dramatic work will come her way. Through a gorgeous smile and a lively, energetic performance, McAdams brings this passionate young woman to life. She and Gosling have perfect chemistry and they bring weight and dimension to The Notebook.

Joan Allen is outstanding as Allie's meddeling and somewhat callous mother. Ultimately, however, there is a reason for her actions, and while this isn't altogether a fair excuse, Allen brings humanity to this part, so that it's really hard to dislike her.

James Garner is spectacular in an all too small role. As a man caring for a less fortunate woman, the veteran actor packs an emotional punch. This is his best work in years. When he broke down on screen, I nearly broke down with him.

The Notebook is very observant in it's look at youth, passion and love. The Garner/Rowlands relationship has shades of the recent 50 First Dates, only it isn't bogged down by horrid, infintile humor (thank God!). It opts to take a more serious route.

Midway through the picture, The Notebook plot thickens by introducing a love triangle, and it's simiar to the one in Michael Bay's ridiculously overbloated Pearl Harbor. Thankfully, the relationships on display here are far more realistic. What I liked most about this triangle is that I actually believed Allie could be in love with both of these men. While Noah is certainly a more developed character than the new man (X-Men's James Marsden) in Allie's life, I still bought into it, because of the intervening circumstances.

The Notebook won't be for everyone. Some will find it a little too sticky sweet, but for me, the strong acting took this movie to a higher level. It's certainly the best thing Nick Cassavettes has done. And while I didn't have to use that free kleenex, I did have to give it to the guy sitting next to me.

Grade: B

ELLA ENCHANTED (PG)
Starring Anne Hathaway,
Released by Miramax

I was excited about Ella Enchanted for all the wrong reasons. You see, I knew that this new fantasy was being released by Miramax. Kill Bill Vol. 2 is also being released by Miramax, so I figured at the very least, seeing a new trailer for the upcoming Tarantino movie would make up for what I was sure would be a dreadfully dull movie experience. And seeing a preview like that before a family film filled my heart with a sick sort of glee. Alas, there were no trailers. Just a...dreadfully dull movie experience. That is, unless you're a ten year old girl.

Ella Enchanted fuses elements of Shrek, Princess Bride, Ever After, and A Knight's Tale and the end result is a movie I probably won't see again, unless my daughter begs me too. She's daddy's little girl and I'm a sucker for that sort of thing.

Ella Enchanted takes place in a fantasy world populated by elves, ogres, giants and magic, and features cute Anne Hathaway (Princess Diaries) as a young woman with special powers who, for many reasons, is unable to use them. And, thanks to a strange curse put upon her, she is forced to do whatever people say, which makes for several silly and all to obvious physical gags.

I love a good family movie. Movies like Finding Nemo are great because they appeal to all age groups. Ella Enchanted is strange, because it makes an attempt at reaching a broader audience, but it fails miserably. I was particularly annoyed by the political jokes that run throughout the picture. This stuff is too deep for the youngsters, and too stupid for the adults in the audience. I also hated a running gag in which the "Prince Charming" character of the story is constantly stalked by his obsessive fans.

Production wise, Ella Enchanted offers up some nifty camera work including a nice opening shot in which we sweep across a fantasy landscape. Save for this isolated moment, most of the movie looks hokey. And the effects work is an absolute bore. Many of the shots in which characters stand along side giants, are obviously rear projection. What's odd, is the techniques used here were probably more expensive than CGI.

I did enjoy some of the art direction. I liked how the little fantasy towns had escalators and other such contemporary inventions. And as was the case in Flinstones, most of them are operated by man rather than machine.

There isn't anything particularly exciting about the cast. Anne Hathaway is cute, but that smile will only get you so far. It was fun seeing Carey Elwes (of Princess Bride fame) cast in a fantasy film again, but he wasn't very interesting here. I really liked Minnie Driver as Hathaway's sweet aunt but she's underused. And they blow a golden opportunity by not utilizing the hilarious Eric Idle to his full potential. As the narrator, the Monty Python funny man's talents are completely wasted.

I'm sure little boys will laugh at the harry ogre cracks on display, while the young girls in the audience will swoon at the simplistic love story. Unfortunately, there isn't much for the old crowd. When it was all over, I wanted my complimentary Notebook Kleenex back.

Grade: C-

MIRAMAX PRODUCT REEL

After the Ella Enchanted screening was over, it was off to the Miramax Dinner Party. Following some fine food and drink, we were treated to the Miramax product reel, and unfortunately, it only consisted of four trailers. What a disappointment.

ELLA ENCHANTED
How boring. We watched a trailer for a movie we just saw. Since I just gave you the full review, it doesn't make much sense to describe the trailer.

JERSEY GIRL
I also found it odd that Miramax chose to show the Jersey Girl trailer given that the movie opened that weekend. Still, I wasn't bothered by this because Kevin Smith needs all the good publicity he can get. Jersey Girl has had a rough go of it after the disaster that was Gigli, and it's really unfortunate. Even his legions of so called fans have bad mouthed the movie before they've even seen it. I for one am excited about the film. As a matter a fact, I'll be seeing it this evening and will have a review up shortly.

NEVERLAND
Neverland stars Johnny Depp as J.M. Barrie, the writer that would go on to create Peter Pan. The film has been done for quite sometime, and Harvey and crew will finally release this fall. The trailer really got me jazzed about the film. As usual, Depp looks outstanding and given his current success, the movie can only benefit from it.

KILL BILL VOLUME 2
This was the "PISS ME OFF" portion of ShoWest. Even though Kill Bill Volume 2 opens in a few weeks, I was hoping that we'd get some kind of a special peak. Alas, all we got was that teaser that's been out for the last month. What a bummer. I'm really excited about this movie. Oh well. Since I haven't seen anything from it, it'll be all the more surprising when I final see the whole movie.

BRIDGET JONES: EDGE OF REASON
This was Miramax's big surprise of the evening. And while I'm really looking forward to seeing the continuing adventures of Bridget Jones, I felt that the studio showed too much. The raw footage reel consisted of what felt like an eternity's worth of material. While it's always cool to get an early glimpse, I don't want the story ruined, and this was more than foreplay. It was a happy ending. The full sex act will occur sometime this holiday season.

In the next ShoWest Report we'll have more goodies including a look at the first ten minutes of Shrek 2, the Paramount Dinner in which we got a look at their entire film slate (i.e. Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow, The Stepford Wives, The Manchurian Candidate, Sponge Bob the Movie etc.) and the big 20th Century Fox Bash that included a ten minute look at The Day After Tomorrow, and glimpses at Garfield, Alien Vs. Predator, I Robot and Dodgeball.