New reviews from The Movie Snob:

I Am David (A-). This new release grabbed me by the throat and never let go. The year is 1952, and the setting is communist Bulgaria. David is an anonymous 12-year-old boy, a prisoner in a concentration camp because of some unknown "crime" committed by parents he barely remembers. With some help, he manages to escape the camp with a mysterious envelope and instructions to make his way to Italy, and then to Denmark. His journey is basically the entire movie, with a few flashbacks to his life in the camp. The actor playing David is utterly convincing playing a child who has been surrounded by cruelty and hatred his whole life, who has been taught to trust no one, suddenly having to try to make sense of freedom and the kindness that strangers occasionally offer him. Jim Cavaziel turns in a nice performance as David's friend in the camp, as does Joan Plowright as a woman who tries to help David on his journey, but the kid who plays David owns the movie. It's a tear-jerker, and I'm afraid it's going to get overlooked in the rush of holiday movies. But it's well worth your time. Go see it and let Hollywood know there's a place for quality movies like this one.

I.Q. (C). That Guy Named David loaned me this DVD from his personal collection. Alas, it was just another bland romantic comedy. The premise is that Meg Ryan is Cathy Boyd, the niece of Albert Einstein (Walter Matthau). She's a brainy mathematician in her own right, and she's engaged to a supercilious drip of a British professor of psychology named James. When an auto mechanic named Ed (Tim Robbins) falls for Cathy and favorably impresses Dr. Einstein, Albert and his cronies hatch a plot to help him woo her away from the loathsome James. Ryan and Robbins turn in congenial performances, but otherwise this flick is completely generic.