The Time Traveler's Wife

• Lose yourself in timeless love with this gloriously romantic story of the journey of two hearts. Artist Clare Abshire (Rachel McAdams of The Notebook) shares a deep emotional bond with Henry De Tamble (Eric Bana of The Other Boleyn Girl), a handsome librarian who travels involuntarily through time. Knowing they can be separated without warning, Clare and Henry treasure the moments they have togeth

LUCKY ONES - DVD MovieAn earnest if not wholly satisfying comedy-drama about an awkward homecoming for three dissimilar Iraq War veterans, The Lucky Ones works best as a vehicle for its interesting lead performances. Tim Robbins transcends his real-life, anti-war reputation by playing Cheever, a Reservist and decent fellow who is injured in Iraq when a porta-potty falls on him. Eager to see his family, he ends up on a road trip with two other soldiers trying to reach their own destinations. T! here's Colee (Rachel McAdams), a young and earnest woman who enlisted to escape family problems, endured a leg wound and is on her way to meet the family of her boyfriend, who was killed in combat. There's also T.K. (Michael Peña), recruited from a poor family and granted a month's leave after becoming impotent from a wound. The odyssey these characters, initially strangers to each other, share is fairly predictable for anyone who has seen such classic vets-coming-home movies as The Best Years of Our Lives. As Colee, T.K. and Cheever travel together, they encounter what sometimes feels and looks like an alien landscape: people who patronize them, people who despise the war without an inkling of what it's like to endure it, and a host of other exploitative chuckleheads who just don't get it. Inevitably, the trio has only itself to rely upon, to share the knowledge of the war's reality and provide support in ways that are sometimes funny and sometimes poignant. Co-wri! tten and directed by Neil Burger (The Illusionist), ! The Luck y Ones has a rambling structure that causes the film to lose focus. But its heart is in the right place, and Robbins, McAdams and Peña play people one can care about as much as enjoy. --Tom Keogh

For Becky (Rachel McAdams, "The Notebook"), running a TV show in New York City was the big break she dreamed of…until star co-anchors Mike (Harrison Ford, Indiana Jones) and Colleen (Diane Keaton, "Something’s Gotta Give") declare an all-out, on-air war. Making the show work with its cast of eccentric characters and outrageous story angles will take a major miracle, but Becky is ready to rise and outshine. From the writer of "The Devil Wears Prada" and "27 Dresses", "Morning Glory" is a “Tart, terrific comedy*” that critics rave is, “Smart! Fresh! Brilliant! Heartwarming! Morning Glory has it all!*” *Peter Travers , Rolling Stone **Neil Rosen, NY1 Morning Glory showcases the comedic (and romantic) talents of two cute couples of different ages--Harrison Ford and Diane Keaton (never sparklier) and the adorable Rachel McAdams and Patrick Wilson. Love! can bloom, no matter what time of life, or, as the setting of! Morn ing Glory underscores, no matter what time of day. McAdams is excellent and darling as an ambitious TV producer who vows to turn around a sinking morning TV news show by bringing in a heavyweight anchor (Ford) to pair with the lighthearted, deft Keaton. But Ford wants none of the "news lite" that morning shows need to surface, so sparks fly between the bickering co-anchors almost immediately. Happily, Ford is easier in his skin in Morning Glory than he has been in some of his past romantic efforts (Six Days Seven Nights), so he and Keaton play off each other easily and believably. In a parallel story, McAdams's Becky is pursued by Wilson's Adam, which takes Ms. Focused Career Girl (if not the viewer) by surprise. The direction by Roger Michell (Notting Hill) is crisp, although the script by Aline Brosh McKenna (The Devil Wears Prada) isn't particularly funny. (Adam thinks Ford's character, Pomeroy, is the "third worst person in the world," aft! er Kim Jong Il and… Angela Lansbury.) But the world of TV news portrayed in Morning Glory is as immersive as it is in Broadcast News, and the romantic subplots truly are romantic. There's love in the air--and on the air--in Morning Glory. --A.T. HurleyLose yourself in timeless love with this gloriously romantic story of the journey of two hearts. Artist Clare Abshire (Rachel McAdams of The Notebook) shares a deep emotional bond with Henry De Tamble (Eric Bana of The Other Boleyn Girl), a handsome librarian who travels involuntarily through time. Knowing they can be separated without warning, Clare and Henry treasure the moments they have together, imbuing them with the yearning and passion of two people imprisoned by time…and set free by love. Based on the #1 bestseller, The Time Traveler's Wife weaves together destiny and devotion, past and future to turn an extraordinary love into an extraordinary love story.A genuinely old-fashioned! Hollywood romance with a science fiction angle, The Time T! raveler' s Wife stars Eric Bana as Henry DeTamble, a Chicago librarian with a genetic disorder causing him to travel through time involuntarily. The screenplay by Bruce Joel Rubin (My Life), based on a novel by Audrey Niffenegger, incorporates some of those crazy paradoxes that are a part of time-travel fiction, but without beating one over the head. Take Henry's introduction to his future wife, Clare (Rachel McAdams), who tells him they've already met even though they haven't actually met. Brain teasers, however, are not what The Time Traveler's Wife is about. In a quite haunting way, the story really concerns what it means to know and love someone at every phase of his or her life. The fact that Henry's life, from Clare's perspective, is hardly linear--he can disappear and turn back up again at different ages--means that she must cherish what is essential about him. Which doesn't mean the couple is immune to periods of unhappiness, including a painful sequence ab! out trying to bear a child--perhaps a child that might also carry the time-traveling gene.

While there is nothing particularly exciting stylistically about The Time Traveler's Wife, in many ways it has the simple charms and clear emotions of a 1940s weepie assigned by a studio to one of its journeyman, contract directors. (The film was directed by Flightplan's Robert Schwentke.) A couple of supporting players, Arliss Howard (as Henry's father) and Ron Livingston (as Henry's friend), provide even more reason to recommend this movie as a satisfying experience. --Tom Keogh