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Based on the 2001 Italian film of the same name, The Last Kiss is a compelling, surprisingly moving look at the ups and downs of contemporary relationships. This is despite the inclusion of several needless subplots involving the central character's best friends, although - to be fair - such problems were hard-wired into the film's predecessor. The bulk of the movie follows seemingly perfect couple Michael (Zach Braff) and Jenna (Jacinda Barrett) as they attempt to work through the deficiencies in their union, most of which are a result of Michael's brief dalliance with a college student (played by Rachel Bilson). There's little doubt that The Last Kiss would've fared a whole lot better had it focused solely on Michael and Jenna, as virtually everything involving Michael's friends - all of whom are suffering from their own quarterlife crises - just feels superfluous (worse still, it's virtually impossible to care about their problems). But such concerns prove to be short-lived, as screenwriter Paul Haggis jettisons most of the non-Michael and Jenna stuff somewhere around the halfway mark. It's at that point that The Last Kiss, due in no small part to Braff's thoroughly compelling performance (with the exception of Blythe Danner's broad histrionics, the acting is uniformly effective), becomes as intriguing and authentic as one might've hoped, and the film ultimately comes off as an ideal companion piece to the thematically-similar Garden State.

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Undoubtedly filmmaker Brian De Palma's most ineffective effort in well over a decade, The Black Dahlia is a convoluted, poorly cast, and occasionally unwatchable would-be noir that's lacking even in De Palma's famously over-the-top sense of style. Based on James Ellroy's eponymous novel, The Black Dahlia follows a pair of circa 1940s detectives - Lee Blanchard (Aaron Eckhart) and Bucky Bleichert (Josh Hartnett) - as they attempt to solve the mysterious and unusually brutal murder of an up-and-coming starlet named Elizabeth Short (Mia Kirshner). Riddled with problems right from the get-go, The Black Dahlia never quite comes off as anything other than an extremely misguided and surprisingly sloppy piece of work - a vibe that stems primarily from Josh Friedman's muddled, flat-out confusing screenplay. There's simply too much going on here to comfortably sustain a two-hour running time, and it seems clear that casual viewers will have a heck of a time trying to keep up with the barrage of plot twists and recurring characters. Hartnett's stiff, thoroughly uncharismatic performance certainly doesn't help matters, as the actor seems woefully out of his element here (particularly when placed alongside Eckhart, who sporadically infuses the proceedings with welcome bursts of energy). De Palma's lamentable decision to reign in his wild directorial flourishes certainly doesn't do the film any favors, and there's little doubt that even the most ardent James Ellroy will be hard-pressed to find much here worth embracing.

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