Seven years after the demise of his aprtner, Jacob Marley, crusty Ebenezer Scrooge (Jim Carrey) begins the Christmas holiday with his usual miserly contempt, barking at both his faithful, underpaid, clerk Bob Crachit (Gary Oldman) and his cheery well-to-do nephew Fred (Colin Firth). But, when the ghost of his deceased partner Jacob marley comes on Christmas Eve and tells him that he will be visited by the spirits of Christmas Past, Present and Yet to Come and if he does  not heed their warnings, he will wind up in the hereafter as an entrapped spirit himself, much as the chained Marley has become.

Reborn as both a humanitarian and a Christian Scrooge finally begins to treat his fellow men with kindness, generosity, and compassion, and gaining a reputation as a man who embodies the spirit of Christmas.

Notes:
A Christmas Carol was pirated in January 1844 by Parley's Illuminated Library. Dickens sued and won his case, the pirates simply declared bankruptcy leaving Dickens to pay £700 in costs.  The novella was adapted for the stage thatyear with three productions starting February 5th, 1844 with one by Edward Stirling sanctioned by Dickens which ran more than forty nights By  February 1844, eight rival Carol theatrical productions were playing in London. Stirling's version played New York City's Park Theater during Christmas season of 1844. There was a musical version of the tale at the Chatham Theater in New York City in 1844.  

This film is a quirky, dark comedy inspired by a true life story and factual events. Hard to believe that in reality, psychic research is being done as a weapon. For the reporter, it’s a mind-boggling mission to find out all about this phenomena. He meets eccentric Lyn Cassady (George Clooney) who claims to be part of the experimental military unit, the New Earth Army, which will change the way wars are fought. There, “Warrior Monks” are able to read enemy’s thoughts, pass through solid walls, and even kill a goat by simply staring at it. Cassady refers to these men as modern Jedi.,

 “THE MEN WHO STARE AT GOATS” is a calculated, wacky, nonsensical hoot! 

BTW: Your tax dollars paid of these experiments!

Sadly, most every Hollywood adaptation of anything that really happened, even when they swear they’re trying to remain faithful, ends up looking nothing like the reality being depicted. Like the movie, "The Perfect Storm." The only real fact in the entire film was the fact that this one particular boatful of guys went out to see and never came back. That’s it. That’s all anyone knew. All the high drama that filled the two hours on screen was complete and utter fabrication. So, is it any wonder audiences take such things with a lot more than a single grain of salt these days?

The story: In 1972, a scale of measurement was established for alien encounters. A UFO sighting is an encounter of the first kind. When evidence is collected--second kind. Contact is made with an extraterrestrial--third kind. And when contact leads to abduction, then you have contact of the fourth kind.
Thousands of people have claimed to have been abducted, but never has there been anything approaching proof--until now. Roughly a decade ago, Psychologist Dr. Abigail Tyler (played by Milla Jovovich when not actually appearing herself in video recordings) lost her husband. Before his death, she and her husband had been working with a number of patients who were having remarkably similar experiences. They felt that at three thirty in the morning they were being watched by a white owl. Eventually the owl seemed to find its way into their homes. And then, they began to realize it was not an owl at all.

As Dr. Tyler placed certain of these patients under hypnosis to try and recover more complete memories of these supposed home intrusions, those being hypnotized had uniformly incredible reactions. Also, during these sessions, whenever the patients began to exhibit unusual, almost impossible, behavior, a curious interference would jam the picture.  This is one of the most interesting films ever created. Stylistically it is a major achievement. The careful integration of the actual footage with that of the actors is remarkably well done, the end effect being one that basically chills to the bone. The most remarkable footage of all is that taken from a police vehicle dashboard. It doesn’t show all that much, but you can clearly hear the police officer reporting that something is flying over the house he has been assigned to watch, that he sees people being taken out of the house.

If this were merely a piece of fiction it would be worthless, just another episode of the "X-Files." But, it’s not fiction. It really happened. You see plenty of moments of it actually happening right there on the screen before you. That’s what’s different about this film. That’s what makes it like nothing you’ve ever seen.  As far as the quality of the filmmaking goes, everything is at the least acceptable. Sets and locations are fine, and match up to the real video shots well enough. The direction and cinematography are very well done. The story takes place in Nome, Alaska, and the motion picture takes full advantage of the available scenery. The soundtrack supports the action nicely, and the sound effects department should count themselves cheated if they don’t get an Oscar nod.

The cast does a fine job as well. Interestingly, often the actors don’t come off as being as terrified as the people they’re playing whom often the audience gets to see in side-by-side comparison shots. Like I said, a very interesting movie.  Now, for that full disclosure thing, I myself have never really believed in alien abduction. Oh, I’ve always said I’m willing to keep an open mind, and frankly I’d like to think that somewhere in the universe there’s someone smarter than us. But, much as I’d like to believe in UFOs, I’ve never found any proof I could accept as conclusive.

This film actually might have changed that for me.

Our final word: 5 stars out of 5.

Imagine . . . at the push of a button in a box, a million dollars is yours. Brings to mind that Staples button you see in their advertisements, which they unbelievably sell and does nothing on pushing the button.

 “THE BOX” is a film that presents this windfall to a couple. Only thing is, it comes with a cost: someone will die, someone they do not know. Is it worth causing the death of a fellow human being in order to gain monetary wealth?

 Acting is well accomplished with the direction of the film well-paced. It all holds your interest as you proceed step by step in the machinations of the interesting plot. The film makes you think about what you would do if a similar offer were given you. Would you take a me-me-me and numero uno approach in acceptance or consider the moral issue of taking an unknowing and unsuspecting life? A most interesting dilemma!

 Set in Harlem in 1987, the tale shows how this mother of mothers just lies around the house watching TV and abusing this 16 year old child. Everyone else seems to do the same thing in taking advantage of her and putting her down at every turn. The only release Precious finds from the harsh reality that is her lot are the daydreams she has, mostly gotten from TV in which she dresses well and everyone respects her.

 These thoughts struck me after viewing the film: 
1. In public schools, educators are too overburdened to recognize those students with special problems. 
2. Bill Cosby has always maintained that schools cannot do it all, and parents must take on greater responsibilities for educating their offspring.
3. Some good, capable  students just do not get the supportive parents, unfortunately.
4. If one can touch the life of one individual, or several one at a time, something positive is can be done.
5. Instillment of self-esteem is a necessary thing for those students who have had horrendous things happen to them in life.
6. There must be that dedicated push of a teacher that is so necessary in having that individual student succeed.
7. Recent studies show that approximately 70% of African American children are born to unmarried parents. One out of four lack basic skills and 
     only 50% graduate.

 Some minority groups have taken the film to task as painting a very negative picture of minority family groupings. I disagree. Problems of abuse should not be hidden, swept under the carpet so to speak, but come out into the open and be addressed. This film does show that with the help and love coming from the right people, and with perseverance by the individual, that person can rise to make life livable and proceed to make a mark on society. 
 “PRECIOUS” is a brilliant document showing the human capacity to grow and overcome. And what outstanding performances, especially from the young girl, Gabourey Sidibe as Precious! Look for glamorous singer Mariah Carey in the not so glamorous role as a person representing the city who is involved with the family’s well being and possible monetary help.