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What stands out first about Van Wilder: The Rise of Taj is the confidence with which Mort Nathan establishes its comedy identity. Rather than relying on premise alone, Van Wilder: The Rise of Taj asks Kal Penn and Lauren Cohan to supply personality from the opening stretch. The premise of Van Wilder: The Rise of Taj is established with useful clarity: Taj Mahal Badalandabad leaves Coolidge College behind for the halls of Camford University in England, where he looks to contin

What stands out first about Keeping Up with the Steins is the confidence with which Scott Marshall establishes its comedy identity. Rather than relying on premise alone, Keeping Up with the Steins asks Jeremy Piven and Garry Marshall to supply personality from the opening stretch. The premise of Keeping Up with the Steins is established with useful clarity: A 13 year old boy uses his upcoming bar mitzvah to reconcile the strained relationship between his father and grandfathe

What stands out first about Black Book is the confidence with which Paul Verhoeven establishes its thriller identity. Rather than relying on premise alone, Black Book asks Carice van Houten and Sebastian Koch to supply personality from the opening stretch. The premise of Black Book is established with useful clarity: In the Nazi occupied Netherlands during World War II, a Jewish singer infiltrates the regional Gestapo headquarters for the Dutch resistance. That direct approac

What stands out first about Away from Her is the confidence with which Sarah Polley establishes its drama identity. Rather than relying on premise alone, Away from Her asks Julie Christie and Michael Murphy to supply personality from the opening stretch. The premise of Away from Her is established with useful clarity: A man coping with the institutionalization of his wife because of Alzheimer's disease faces an epiphany when she transfers her affections to another man, Aubrey

What stands out first about Let's Go to Prison is the confidence with which Bob Odenkirk establishes its comedy identity. Rather than relying on premise alone, Let's Go to Prison asks Dax Shepard and Will Arnett to supply personality from the opening stretch. The premise of Let's Go to Prison is established with useful clarity: When a career criminal's plan for revenge is thwarted by unlikely circumstances, he puts his intended victim's son in his place by putting him in pris

What stands out first about The Science of Sleep is the confidence with which Michel Gondry establishes its comedy identity. Rather than relying on premise alone, The Science of Sleep asks Gael García Bernal and Charlotte Gainsbourg to supply personality from the opening stretch. The premise of The Science of Sleep is established with useful clarity: A man entranced by his dreams and imagination is love struck with a French woman and feels he can show her his world. That dire

What stands out first about Paris, Je T'aime is the confidence with which Olivier Assayas establishes its comedy identity. Rather than relying on premise alone, Paris, Je T'aime asks Juliette Binoche and Leonor Watling to supply personality from the opening stretch. The premise of Paris, Je T'aime is established with useful clarity: Through the neighborhoods of Paris, love is veiled, revealed, imitated, sucked dry, reinvented, and awakened. That direct approach lets Paris, Je

What stands out first about Little Children is the confidence with which Todd Field establishes its romance identity. Rather than relying on premise alone, Little Children asks Kate Winslet and Jennifer Connelly to supply personality from the opening stretch. The premise of Little Children is established with useful clarity: The lives of two lovelorn spouses from separate marriages, a registered sex offender, and a disgraced ex police officer intersect as they struggle to res

What stands out first about Rescue Dawn is the confidence with which Werner Herzog establishes its biographical drama identity. Rather than relying on premise alone, Rescue Dawn asks Christian Bale and Steve Zahn to supply personality from the opening stretch. The premise of Rescue Dawn is established with useful clarity: A U.S. fighter pilot's epic struggle of survival after being shot down on a mission over Laos during the Vietnam War. That direct approach lets Rescue Dawn

What stands out first about A Scanner Darkly is the confidence with which Richard Linklater establishes its animated adventure identity. Rather than relying on premise alone, A Scanner Darkly asks Keanu Reeves and Winona Ryder to supply personality from the opening stretch. The premise of A Scanner Darkly is established with useful clarity: An undercover cop in a not too distant future becomes involved with a dangerous new drug and begins to lose his own identity as a result.

What stands out first about For Your Consideration is the confidence with which Christopher Guest establishes its comedy identity. Rather than relying on premise alone, For Your Consideration asks Catherine O'Hara and Harry Shearer to supply personality from the opening stretch. The premise of For Your Consideration is established with useful clarity: Three actors learn that their respective performances in the film "Home for Purim," a drama set in the mid 1940s American Sout

What stands out first about Basic Instinct 2 is the confidence with which Michael Caton Jones establishes its thriller identity. Rather than relying on premise alone, Basic Instinct 2 asks Sharon Stone and David Morrissey to supply personality from the opening stretch. The premise of Basic Instinct 2 is established with useful clarity: Novelist Catherine Tramell is once again in trouble with the law, and Scotland Yard appoints psychiatrist Dr Michael Glass to evaluate her. Th