THE GHOST WRITER / ****

Distributor: Summit Entertainment
Release Date: February 19, 2010
Genre: Thriller
Running Time: 128 minutes
MPAA Rating: PG-13

No matter what he did, which he definitely did it and it was definitely wrong, Roman Polanski is one of the most uniquely gifted filmmakers in the business. His more noted works include some of the most memorable films of all time, like “Rosemary’s Baby,” “Chinatown,” and “The Pianist,” for which he won an Oscar in 2002. A lot of scumbags are capable of creating great work, is all I’m saying.

This year he can add another film to his list of classics with “The Ghost Writer.” Pierce Brosnan stars as former British Prime Minster Adam Lang, a character with more than a passing similarity to real former PM Tony Blair. At the end of his career, Lang is in the process of having his memoirs written. His first ghost writer turns up dead under some fishy circumstances, which creates a golden opportunity for an unknown writer (Ewan McGregor), never named but simply credited as “The Ghost.”

It doesn’t take long for things to get weird around the Lang household. The Ghost immediately gets pulled from both sides, by Lang’s wife Ruth (Olivia Williams), and Lang’s aide Amelia Bly (Kim Cattrall). Their motivations are shrouded in mystery, and Polanski doesn’t rush any of the film’s revelations. Lang himself always seems cool and collected, but with something simmering just beneath the surface.

The performances are terrific across the board. McGregor is never named and looking back on it, not only do we not know his name, but we don’t really know anything about him at all. McGregor spends quite a bit of time by himself in the movie and carries it with a quiet charisma. Williams and Cattrall are terrific rivals in a passive aggressive manner. And I believe that if marketed and promoted correctly, Brosnan could score his first Oscar nomination, his performance is that good.

“The Ghost Writer” is a classic thriller reminiscent of Alfred Hitchcock’s best work. Watching the film unfold is one of the great pleasures of the year in cinema thus far. Separating the man from the artist, Roman Polanski is one hell of a director.

Theater: The Ruth Sokolof Theater, Omaha, NE
Time: 700 pm
Date: March 31, 2010

THE MEN WHO STARE AT GOATS / ***

Distributor: Overture Films
Release Date: November 6, 2009
Genre: Comedy
Running Time: 90 minutes
MPAA Rating: R

As a journalist, watching the opening minutes of “The Men Who Stare at Goats” was a tad upsetting. Ewan McGregor plays Bob Wilton, a journalist for the Ann Arbor News, which shuttered its doors over the summer. It was yet another sad reminder of the state of the profession I love.

From that point forward the film took on a much lighter tone, and can best be described as amusing. Like many men before him, Wilton has been jilted by a woman, and thinks he can impress her into taking him back. To that end he travels to Iraq to try and get some kind of combat experience. While there he encounters a story that may seem too good to be true, but Wilton assures us that “more of this is true than you would believe.”

Wilton encounters a man named Lyn Cassady (Oscar winner George Clooney), who was a member of the New Earth Army, which was a top secret branch of psychic soldiers, or “Jedi Warriors.” Oscar nominee Jeff Bridges plays Bill Django, the leader of the New Earth Army. Think of a more motivated version of “The Dude,” Bridges’s character from “The Big Lebowski,” and you get a pretty good idea of what Bill Django is like.

Much of the story is told in flashbacks, to a time when everyone apparently sported just a moustache. Cassady is Django’s star pupil, but another student, Larry Hooper (Oscar winner Kevin Spacey), fancies himself as the top psychic in the class and resents the attention Cassady gets.

The film is certainly disjointed and certainly could have been tightened up in spots. Overall first-time director Grant Heslov (Clooney’s co-writer on “Good Night, and Good Luck”) lets the actors do what they’re best at and doesn’t try to force scenes, no matter how ridiculous.

I can see why “The Men Who Stare at Goats” didn’t light the box office on fire, but I have a suspicion that it may gain a cult following sometime in the next decade.

Theater: Marcus Midtown Crossing Cinema, Omaha, NE
Time: 945 pm
Date: 11/23/2009