This final week of 2008 marks a transition for you favorite RazorFine Crew as we pack everything up and move over to Transbuddha for the new year.  Don’t fret loyal viewers, you’ll still find our unique voice in news, reviews, and much more, across the Internets in our new home.  RF will stay up (though its form might change slightly) for you to pursue our archive of reviews and articles at our leisure.  So as we move on to our new home let me thank each of you for your support and we hope to see you when we unleash new reviews and crazy zaniness on Transbuddha.

One was an ousted king, the other was a talk show host no one took seriously.  The pair would cross swords in a series of interviews in early 1977, and to everyone’s surprise David Frost, out-classed and out-smarted from the start, did what no one thought possible.  Ron Howard adapts the award winning play for the big screen keeping the two stars of the stage to give us his best film since Apollo 13 and what just might be the best film of 2008.

Frank Miller of comic fame makes his directing debut with this film adaptation of the classic comic.  Does Miller have any idea what he’s doing?  Why not click below and find out. . .

Leave it to Tom Cruise to make a movie which celebrates the nobility of the Nazi party (and release it on Christmas Day no less).  Valkyrie, although filmed quite beautifully (with many, many loving close-ups of its star) simply doesn’t work.  When a film about assassinating Hitler makes you feel sorry for Führer you know there’s a problem.

Anyone who follows my reviews (Mom) knows that I’ve hated Adam Sandler as of late.  Does my hatred continue to burn away towards the master linguist who penned The Chanukah Song?  Only one way to find out.

Before we begin let me be honest and admit I’m more of a cat person.  That doesn’t mean I don’t enjoy dog movies (when they’re good), but it does mean I’m not likely to give a pass on a film, or go easy on it, just because it has a cute four-legged star.  Based the semi-autobiographical experiences of columnist John Grogan the film tells the story of how a dog changes the lives of a young couple.  If you can get over the cute factor (and the length which, at two-hours, is a problem) you might have an enjoyable enough time.

So David Fincher (Se7en, Fight Club, Zodiac, Panic Room) and Brad Pitt have tossed their hats into the ‘well, we’ve decided we want an Oscar’ ring with the Christmas Day release of “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”, a sprawling, nearly 3 hour exercise in how to tempt Academy voters that manages to avoid any semblance of plot or meaning. Ostensibly based on the F. Scott Fitzgerald short story of the same name (which you can read in its entirety here), in truth the two share naught but a title and the central hook of the story: A man who is living his physical life in reverse, de-aging with each passing year.

As tomorrow is Christmas I thought this was an appropriate gift for all you comic fans out there.  Here’s A Visit from St. Nicholas (better knows as Twas the Night Before Christmas), Batman style.  Listen carefully all the way through, especially to Batman’s whispered thanks to you know who.  Fun stuff.  Larger version available in the Full Diagnosis.  Enjoy, and Merry Christmas!

Beethoven’s Big Break is a family fun lov’n good time. It might be number 5 or 7 in the series, but overall for innocent family/kid TV watching goodness this old dog has got some new tricks, and a few old ones too. Who doesn’t love a 185-lb St Bernard and all his litter coming over for dinner? There are a few laughs, good tunes for the younger audience like the Jonas Brothers and Everlife and a handful of somewhat comical actors like Johathan Silverman and Eddie Grifin. Beethoven’s Big Break is all right for what it is; yet another big slobbering dog makes funny family film.

Here’s a strangeness - all of today’s notable releases don’t come out until Saturday.  Weird, huh?