I’ve heard people refer to “The Notebook” as cheesy, as a ‘chick flick’ (a label very few of my colleagues can stand because of its negative connotation), as predictable and sappy. So “The Notebook” doesn’t exactly take a brain surgeon to guess how the story is going to play out. And it does unapologetically play on your emotions, practically begging you to squeeze out a few tears. But here’s why I enjoyed “The Notebook”: it’s a movie you can relax and let flow over you. It’s also one of the few films out there that tells a complete story. There’s a well-defined beginning, middle, and end.

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Kelly and Evelyn Ryan live in Defiance, Ohio with their 10 children. At first glance their life seems idyllic; they call each other “Mother” and “Father” and seem to dote on the kids. But Kelly was a garage-band crooner whose voice was ruined in an auto accident. He’s resigned to a dead-end factory job that barely pays the bills, and is given to fits of alcohol-induced rage. Evelyn, a stay-at-home wife and mother, deals with this abuse by appealing to her priest, who is no help at all. She deals with their poverty by entering the jingle contests that were the rage in the 50’s and early 60’s, even sending in multiple entries in the names of the children. She is very clever at it, winning more than her share of prizes, but her successes aren’t enough to keep the wolf from the door. Further, they trigger Kelly’s insecurities and he retreats deeper into the bottle, using food and mortgage money to support the habit. Can the loving, optimistic Evelyn hold the family together? Is she justified in placing her faith in the deeply-flawed Kelly? How will the children turn out? This underrated film provides an inspirational answer to these questions. Written by Joe Jurca

Henry Hill is a small time gangster, who takes part in a robbery with Jimmy Conway and Tommy De Vito, two other gangsters who have set their sights a bit higher. His two partners kill off everyone else involved in the robbery, and slowly start to climb up through the hierarchy of the Mob. Henry, however, is badly affected by his partners success, but will he stoop low enough to bring about the downfall of Jimmy and Tommy ? Written by Colin Tinto {cst@imdb.com}

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In 1950, few soccer players in the United States played the game with any particular degree of expertise. Most Americans had heard about the soccer only by hearsay, even though it was the world’s most popular sport, and when the United States was invited to compete in the World Cup in Brazil, the country turned out to have no soccer team to call their own. The U.S. set out to recruit players in the soccer breeding ground of St. Louis, Missouri, where they found a group of young friends with almost absolute lack of an appropriate experience, only an unabashed love of the game.

During FBI operation Agent Eleven (Bob), a drug-sniffing dog, happens to bite off a major mobster’s manhood. The gangster cuts up quite savage and orders two hit men to murder the dog. To secure the canine agent, the FBI places him in the witness protection program. The dog changes both his owners and his name. Now he is adopted by a postal worker, Gordon Smith (David Arquette), who is not exactly a dog lover. One fine day when Gordon’s beautiful neighbor, Stephanie (Leslie Bibb), asks him to baby-sit her son, it is a challenge for Gordon to handle the pet. The super dog makes friends with James (Angus T. Jones), trees the mailman, evades the mobsters’ pursuit and gets sympathy of all kids in the neighborhood. “Spot” is full of energy while waiting for his enemies to track down him again. It remains to be seen who will lead a dog’s life!