Thomas J. Norton

The story of a well-intentioned but ultimately failed U.S. 1993 military mission in Somalia, where American Rangers and Delta Force troops tried to capture a savage warlord who was ravaging and starving his own people into submission, is not a pretty one. Nor is Black Hawk Down an easy film to watch. But while it's often gritty, depressing, and filled with violent, bloody imagery, it also paints a very positive, uplifting image of American troops and what they're willing to risk for the mission and for each other. It's hard to imagine mainstream Hollywood producing such a film today, five event-filled years after Black Hawk Down first hit the screens.

This witty take on the fashion industry, with its dedicated, nearly obsessed careerists, should appeal to anyone who can get over the idea that it's just a chick flick. In fact, there are parallels here to any industry that demands total dedication. When I first saw the scenes of the big annual fashion gathering in Paris, I thought "CES!" OK, Vegas isn't Paris (not even at the Paris), and CES parties don't have as many gorgeous, skinny women. But you get the idea.

Batman Begins is not only the best Batman film ever produced, and arguably the best superhero movie ever, but it was one of the best films of 2005.

M:i:III may not be the best entry in the Mission Impossible franchise (my vote goes to the first), but it will do as a reasonably entertaining entry in that deliriously implausible, action packed franchise until the inevitable IV comes along.