Everybody's a critic - 'Moonlight Mile'

Three stars

Named for the Rolling Stones song that plays through the film, "Moonlight Mile" is about loving and losing love. Down the road the characters realize that they never lost that love at all but had grown from it and that love would be what they needed to love again.

A loss of life brings two people together, not just as friends but in a relationship of love and possibilities. A couple -- a writer and real estate agent -- cope with no longer being able to have their daughter by rediscovering their passion for living.

Aside from being able to return to their daily activities, they are reminded of their passion for each other and what had brought them together many years before. Finally they realize how to move on without the one-and-only daughter they had wrapped their lives around.

-- Amy Laubach, sales

Three stars

This movie is the story of love lost and found. It is also about people dealing with grief. Joe has lost his fiancee in a tragic murder and has moved in with his fiancee's parents. The movie explores the interrelationship of the three characters and how each of them deal, and at times fail to deal, with the loss of the fiancée.

Complications occur when Joe finds a new love, who herself is dealing with a lost love. There are some very funny scenes as the friends of the family try to help the family deal with, and in some cases ignore their grief. The movie ends with hope in the power of love.

The director does a good job bringing us into their story, which coupled with good performances by Dustin Hoffman and Susan Sarandon, make this movie worth the price of the ticket.

-- Mark Martin, pastor

Three stars

This movie begins with Jo (Susan Sarandon), Ben (Dustin Hoffman) and Joe (Jake Gyllenhaal) attending a funeral. The daughter of Jo and Ben and fiancee of Joe has just been killed at a diner.

As they each try to deal with their grief, there seems to be something that Joe wants to tell the parents but can't seem to find the nerve or the right time or place for.

Sarandon does a beautiful job with this role and also aided in the production of the movie.

Sad to say, Holly Hunter's role of a lawyer was not big. She represents the family during the murder trial.

As the movie ends, each person seems to find a reason to go on.

-- Joyce Engert, retiree