When a man loves a ghost, expect surprises

Paul McCartney once wondered whether the world had had enough of

silly love songs, but eventually concluded it wasn’t so. The

producers of the new film “Just Like Heaven” apparently have reached

the same conclusion regarding silly cinematic love stories.

“Just Like Heaven” is an old-fashioned and extremely sentimental

love story starring two very likable actors, Reese Witherspoon and

Mark Ruffalo.

Witherspoon plays Elizabeth Masterson, a capable but overworked

doctor finishing her residency at a San Francisco hospital. Although

her fellow residents also burn the midnight oil, they all seem to

have lives outside the hospital. Elizabeth is all about her work, and

is even told by a co-worker she is “lucky” she has no distractions.

After a 26-hour shift at the hospital, Elizabeth is running late

to a dinner at her sister’s house, where she has been set up on a

blind date. On the way there, she gets in a head-on collision with a

truck. The outcome of this encounter is unknown, but one assumes the

worst when her apartment is sublet.

The new occupant of Elizabeth’s apartment is David Abbott

(Ruffalo), who seems to emphasize the comfort of the couch in the

other apartments he has looked at with his agent. Once ensconced in

his new digs, his obsession with the sofas becomes clear. David’s

life consists of drinking beer and watching television as he mourns

the loss of his wife.

This unpleasant monotony is disrupted when David is confronted by

Elizabeth’s spirit. At first, he doesn’t realize she isn’t flesh and

blood and can’t figure out how she gained access to the barricaded

apartment. Elizabeth thinks David is “squatting” in her apartment and

wants him to leave immediately.

Because Elizabeth is able to walk through walls, they both soon

realize she is not human, but something else entirely. Eager to get

Elizabeth out of his life so he can resume his drinking, David hires

an exorcist and some Asian spirit chasers -- to no avail. Finally, in

desperation, David resorts to an occult bookstore, where he meets

Darryl (Jon Heder), who advises him to move.

Eventually, Elizabeth and David manage an uneasy coexistence and

start to talk. David realizes Elizabeth has no idea who she is, where

she came from or how she entered her spirit state. When David begins

to help Elizabeth answer these questions, the film takes some

surprising and interesting turns.

Does any of this make sense? Absolutely not, and that’s the fun of

it. “Just Like Heaven” is basically a love story of two people

destined to be together who are faced with a seemingly insurmountable

obstacle -- namely, one of them appears to be a ghost.

The film is not the least bit apologetic about asking the audience

to accept this fantasy scenario, nor should it be. Some of the

greatest movies of all time have asked us to believe in angels (“It’s

a Wonderful Life”) and even Santa Claus (“Miracle on 34th Street”).

I’m not suggesting “Just Like Heaven” is in that league, but it works

within the confines of its premise.

Witherspoon and Ruffalo are well matched as on-screen lovers. The

screenplay makes one hope for a happy ending, although it’s hard to

imagine that happening, given the circumstances.

“Just Like Heaven” is smarter than it needs to be, and the

dialogue is sometimes surprisingly clever. The film is also a

cinematic love affair with San Francisco and uses the various venues

and vistas to advantage.

“Just Like Heaven” is a great date movie. The sentimental love

story, combined with a bit of “Ghostbusters” intrigue, should appeal

to men and women alike.

Warm and fuzzy, yes, but I recommend it.

* VAN NOVACK, 50, is the director of institutional research at Cal

State Long Beach and lives in Huntington Beach with his wife,

Elizabeth.

‘Venom’ has no bite

After a year full of mediocre and uninspiring movies, it’s nice to

begin the fall season, when studios release movies that showcase

cinema as an art form.

And then there’s “Venom.” This is one of those duds that has you

leaving the theater thinking about the 90 minutes of your life that

you’ll never get back.

“Venom” is one of the movies Miramax is rushing into theaters

before the Weinstein brothers are officially free from Disney. It’s

kind of hard to believe Bob and Harvey Weinstein could be associated

with a movie this awful, but as the executive producers they’re

responsible for this mess.

Although “Venom” describes itself as a supernatural horror story

about voodoo, it’s really just another mindless slasher flick with an

unstoppable antagonist. You can shoot him, stab him and even wave

enchanted snake skulls at him. It doesn’t matter. He’s gonna getcha.

Some people might feel that in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina,

it’s tasteless to release a horror movie set in the swamps of

Louisiana. The real issue is making this movie in the first place.

There are so many great scripts that never get made, and there’s

garbage like this being distributed nationally. It’s a crime, and

we’re all the victims.

The script is based on the story for a video game that has yet to

be released. The idea of making movies based on video games has

always struck me as pretty weak. Basing a movie on an unfinished

story for a video game that’s still in development has got to be one

of the lamest ideas in film history.

Another way to summarize this story is that it’s yet another movie

where teenagers are given the opportunity to save the world from

unspeakable evil and fail miserably. Teenagers could have stopped

Freddy, but they failed. They could have stopped Jason, but they

failed. And, no surprise, they fail to stop Ray, the enchanted evil

undead voodoo snake-possessed guy -- or whatever he’s supposed to be.

Remember, it’s not a spoiler when the movie is so awful there’s

nothing to spoil.

The combination of stilted dialogue and wooden acting is what

makes “Venom” truly special. The performances are lifeless and even

embarrassing.

The action is kind of like an Old Navy back-to-school ad where

everyone dies. Most of the characters are perky and wholesome high

school kids. As usual, the kids are all played by twentysomething

adults. The death of each character releases the audience from having

to endure seeing them on the screen.

If it weren’t for liberal use of the F-word, “Venom” would have a

PG rating instead of an R. This is a movie that’s clearly made for

young teens who will be titillated by sneaking into an R-rated movie,

only to discover that they’ve been had. The gore is fairly tame

considering the rating and the genre.

“Venom” is so awful that it might be worth renting, but only if

there’s something wrong with you that medication and therapy don’t

seem to be able to fix.

* JIM ERWIN, 40, is a technical writer and computer trainer.

No end for this ‘War’

Without conflict, movies are just a series of meaningless events

strung together. Conflict emerges when one action causes a reaction.

War between two opposing sides is a prime example of conflict.

However, opposing viewpoints create conflict and tension in many

different ways.

For instance, in “Lord of War,” Yuri Orlov (Nicolas Cage) sells

guns that are used to kill innocent civilians. Law enforcement

officials react by trying to stop Yuri’s illegal arms dealing. That

produces a legal conflict. Yuri’s decision to keep his illicit

business affairs from his family, except for his brother, produces a

moral conflict.

The presence of conflict is not enough. To release and activate

the tension and engage the audience, the conflict must touch an

emotional chord within heroes such as Yuri. Without an emotional

reaction, the conflict fails to have a purpose.

Although Yuri’s life is overflowing with ethical and moral

conflicts, he chooses to ignore them. He goes through the motions of

life, but not the emotions.

He has a natural talent for learning and adopting the best

practices in his profession.

Doing so has catapulted him from buying and selling guns on the

street corner to selling truckloads of weapons to corrupt government

officials and dictators around the world.

He pays a great price to rise to the top. The personal sacrifice

and loss he endures -- both to himself and his family -- would

emotionally cripple or completely destroy the average citizen. Not

Yuri.

Even though Yuri appears to be at the center of the story, “Lord

of War” is not presented to entertain audiences with a lost hero as

much as it is to preach to them about the hero’s activities.

The sermon from the mouth of the filmmakers focuses on blaming

illegal arms dealers for the carnage created from civil unrest around

the world. If there were no arms dealers supplying weapons, the

murder of innocent civilians and overthrowing of governments could

not happen.

As the movie progresses, the message begins repeating itself,

moving from hypothetical to real-life experience.

For instance, when Yuri and his brother begin selling guns, they

talk about the moral issues involved and what they would and would

not do.

By the third act, all the talking they did in the first act is put

into action. In other words, the time has come for the brothers in

arms to back up their words.

Both face life and death moral situations that are unsettling even

to think about. The brothers react to their situations in different

ways that, in the end, fail to stop the conflict.

Even as a morality play, “Lord of War” fails to reach the main

goal of every movie: giving the audience members what they want. At

the movies, what they want is a story, not a sermon. Skip the cost of

a ticket, even the price of a rental, and wait for it to appear on

cable.

* PEGGY J. ROGERS, 40, produces commercial videos and

documentaries.