Bringing Down the House, Tears of the Sun and Irreversible

NEW YORK – Steve Martin, Queen Latifah, Bruce Willis and two Monica Bellucci films in the harsh glare of The Foxlight.

Steve Martin used to be one of our most gifted comics, so what happened? The man who has chosen winning scripts like HouseSitter, Out-of-Towners, Sgt. Bilko and Novocaine has done it again with the mis-titled Bringing Down the House.

Critics say that almost no house watching this movie will come down, at least with laughter,. You've seen the one funny joke in the TV commercials about Iraq. Fortunately, Academy rules won't let them take back Queen Latifah's Chicago nomination. As for Martin hosting the Academy Awards, he always seems to write good stuff for himself. Why doesn't he write a movie like the good old days?

Next, Bruce Willis told the president he was ready for war and he wasn't kidding. At 47 he's buff and taking on African warlords in Tears of the Sun. It starts out pretty well, then gets a little muddled. A few implausible plot twists later, everybody is OK. But who cares when you get to rescue Monica Bellucci?

Unfortunately for Monica, she's also in an independent film that's so violent and repugnant it literally had them vomiting at the Cannes Film Festival last year. You won't see that on the promotional posters. It's called Irreversible and refers to the time you spend in the theater. This is the most brutal film I've ever seen and I can't -- on any level -- recommend it.

And that's the always upbeat and cheery world of celebrity highs and lows we project on a wide screen every day in The Foxlight.