John Cusack

John Cusack didn't come to Baltimore when preparing to play Edgar Allan Poe in "The Raven. " In fact, he says he's never been here. But when asked whether this city, Boston, Philadelphia, New York or Richmond has dibs on the author's reputation, Cusack, 45, answers without hesitation. "Baltimore!," he said. "Is that even a question?" For Cusack, the only other city that comes close to having a hold on Poe is Boston. After all, he was born there. "But I think people generally would have to concede that Poe is a Baltimore guy," he said.

John Cusack didn't come to Baltimore when preparing to play Edgar Allan Poe in "The Raven. " In fact, he says he's never been here. But when asked whether this city, Boston, Philadelphia, New York or Richmond has dibs on the author's reputation, Cusack, 45, answers without hesitation. "Baltimore!," he said. "Is that even a question?" For Cusack, the only other city that comes close to having a hold on Poe is Boston. After all, he was born there. "But I think people generally would have to concede that Poe is a Baltimore guy," he said.

John Cusack is emerging as one of our most fascinating filmmakers and actors, and not just because of that preternaturally puckered mouth of his, though filmgoers could easily entertain themselves just by speculating how exactly that kisser manages to look pursed and astonished at the same time. More than a highly watchable actor, Cusack has become the chief spokesman for the particular sub-strata of a generation, for whom the cultural shibboleths of their teen years -- music, TV shows and movies -- haven't lost their totemic power.

Baltimore has a special interest in the new John Cusack movie "The Raven" as it tells the story of a man the city claims as its own: Edgar Allan Poe. (If they named the football team after his poem, he's got to be something, right?) The film depicts a 19th century Baltimore, but was filmed, much to the city's dismay, in Europe, where it just opened. It's due to play here next month, so as a public service, we thought we could tell you what reviewers across the pond thought.

Eight Men Out 8 p.m. [Versus] This critically acclaimed account of the 1919 Black Sox scandal stars a host of familiar faces, including John Cusack, Charlie Sheen, D.B. Sweeney and Christopher Lloyd. The late Eliot Asinof, who wrote the book on which the movie is based, has a small role in the film. This is one John Cusack movie in which his sister Joan doesn't appear.

A swift, sharp adaptation of Stephen King's short story, 1408 may be a fairly unassuming achievement as supernatural thrillers go. But if you don't bring to it blockbuster expectations, you will experience an artfully sustained atmosphere of dread and a ghost story with an eye toward the mind games people play on themselves in times of crisis. Like many King stories (this one from the Everything's Eventual collection), it's about a nonbeliever who comes to believe. John Cusack can play cynical, bored characters in his sleep and, it must be said, sometimes has. Here, though, portraying a travel writer specializing in allegedly haunted locales, the actor deploys his deadpan cool very artfully in the service of a man who has suffered a traumatic loss and is doing his best to skate over the memories.

The story of a single man who reluctantly takes a weird kid under his wing and ends up with a kooky, cobbled-together family of his own, Martian Child would like to be About a Boy (Who Thinks He's a Martian), but, disappointingly, it doesn't even come close. Based on a novel by science-fiction writer David Gerrold, the movie stars John Cusack as David Gordon, a science-fiction writer who adopts a 6-year-old boy two years after the death of his wife. The kid is called Dennis (Bobby Coleman)

Next Friday AMERICAN GANGSTER -- (Universal Studios) Denzel Washington's a Harlem drug lord, and Russell Crowe's a cop out to take him down. Ridley Scott directs. BEE MOVIE -- (Paramount Pictures) Jerry Seinfeld leads the voice cast in the animated tale of a bee who sues humanity for stealing honey. With Renee Zellweger. BLADE RUNNER: THE FINAL CUT -- (Warner Bros.) Director Ridley Scott releases another version of the classic science fiction film. Starring Harrison Ford and Daryl Hannah.

"Con Air" is preposterous. It's excessive. It's slathered in blood.Ladies and gentlemen, please buckle up for an absolute blast at the cineplex."Con Air" is a pulsating action movie that never once asks to be taken seriously. It skillfully observes all the conventions of the thriller and simultaneously mocks itself for doing so. Yes, it's loud and violent and way, way overdone. But what "Con Air" is, most of all, is funny. Very, very funny.The producer is Jerry Bruckheimer, an experienced hand at action pictures, with "The Rock," "Top Gun" and "Crimson Tide" all on his resume.

Baltimore has a special interest in the new John Cusack movie "The Raven" as it tells the story of a man the city claims as its own: Edgar Allan Poe. (If they named the football team after his poem, he's got to be something, right?) The film depicts a 19th century Baltimore, but was filmed, much to the city's dismay, in Europe, where it just opened. It's due to play here next month, so as a public service, we thought we could tell you what reviewers across the pond thought.

Eagle Eye ** 1/2 ( 2 1/2 STARS) $29.2 million $29.2 million 1 week Rated: PG-13 Running time: 118 minutes What it's about: A mysterious woman who seems able to control any electronic device coerces an aimless slacker (Shia LaBeouf, above) and a single mother (Michelle Monaghan) into implementing a plot that may bring down the U.S. as we know it. Our take: It's moderately gripping, but, too often, watching this movie is like seeing someone else crack a jigsaw puzzle. Nights in Rodanthe * 1/2 ( 1 1/2 STARS)

Eight Men Out 8 p.m. [Versus] This critically acclaimed account of the 1919 Black Sox scandal stars a host of familiar faces, including John Cusack, Charlie Sheen, D.B. Sweeney and Christopher Lloyd. The late Eliot Asinof, who wrote the book on which the movie is based, has a small role in the film. This is one John Cusack movie in which his sister Joan doesn't appear.

When politics and culture satirize themselves, what is there left for satire to do? This is the problem faced by War, Inc., a broad lampooning of political corruption and war profiteering co-written by John Cusack (who also stars and produces) with novelist Mark Leyner and screenwriter Jeremy Pikser, who deal with it by putting their thinly veiled Dick Cheney stand-in on the toilet and the video phone at the same time. War, Inc.'s laudable antecedents are many, but then, once upon a time, it was possible to watch a movie like Dr. Strangelove and have an eye-opening, revelatory, even epiphanic experience.

Say goodbye, Lizzie McGuire, say hello, Eastern European pop tart. Yep, Hilary Duff is all grown up now, a beautiful 20-year-old, and in her latest film, War, Inc., she makes a big career move. Co-starring with John Cusack and Marisa Tomei, Duff plays Yonica Babyyeah, a foul-mouthed, oversexed and underdressed Central Asian pop singer so outrageous she makes Madonna look like a nun. It's a role that might shock her clean-as-driven-snow, teeny-bop fan base, but could also jump-start Duff's mature movie career.

The story of a single man who reluctantly takes a weird kid under his wing and ends up with a kooky, cobbled-together family of his own, Martian Child would like to be About a Boy (Who Thinks He's a Martian), but, disappointingly, it doesn't even come close. Based on a novel by science-fiction writer David Gerrold, the movie stars John Cusack as David Gordon, a science-fiction writer who adopts a 6-year-old boy two years after the death of his wife. The kid is called Dennis (Bobby Coleman)

Next Friday AMERICAN GANGSTER -- (Universal Studios) Denzel Washington's a Harlem drug lord, and Russell Crowe's a cop out to take him down. Ridley Scott directs. BEE MOVIE -- (Paramount Pictures) Jerry Seinfeld leads the voice cast in the animated tale of a bee who sues humanity for stealing honey. With Renee Zellweger. BLADE RUNNER: THE FINAL CUT -- (Warner Bros.) Director Ridley Scott releases another version of the classic science fiction film. Starring Harrison Ford and Daryl Hannah.

In a foul-mood comedy like The Ice Harvest, every potentially likable man or woman proves to be malignant, painfully limited or just pitifully weak. And that's what makes it satisfying. It's a rhythmless, graceless piece of filmmaking. But if you have an ounce of misanthropy in your body, a picture like this can draw it to the surface the way a leech draws blood. In the opening voiceover narration, John Cusack as a Kansas mob lawyer - not someone you see onscreen every day - dangles the prospect of a perfect crime in front of the audience.

There's no way to assess "Being John Malkovich," a metaphysical comedy that takes viewers to the edge of consciousness and back in one long, screwball thrill ride, without beginning at the beginning.Craig Schwartz (John Cusack) is a struggling puppeteer whose street-corner adaptations of Abelard and Heloise get him into fistfights while his arch nemesis makes a name for himself with readings of "The Belle of Amherst" by a 16-foot puppet of Emily Dickinson.Craig's frizzle-haired wife Lotte (Cameron Diaz)

A swift, sharp adaptation of Stephen King's short story, 1408 may be a fairly unassuming achievement as supernatural thrillers go. But if you don't bring to it blockbuster expectations, you will experience an artfully sustained atmosphere of dread and a ghost story with an eye toward the mind games people play on themselves in times of crisis. Like many King stories (this one from the Everything's Eventual collection), it's about a nonbeliever who comes to believe. John Cusack can play cynical, bored characters in his sleep and, it must be said, sometimes has. Here, though, portraying a travel writer specializing in allegedly haunted locales, the actor deploys his deadpan cool very artfully in the service of a man who has suffered a traumatic loss and is doing his best to skate over the memories.

In a foul-mood comedy like The Ice Harvest, every potentially likable man or woman proves to be malignant, painfully limited or just pitifully weak. And that's what makes it satisfying. It's a rhythmless, graceless piece of filmmaking. But if you have an ounce of misanthropy in your body, a picture like this can draw it to the surface the way a leech draws blood. In the opening voiceover narration, John Cusack as a Kansas mob lawyer - not someone you see onscreen every day - dangles the prospect of a perfect crime in front of the audience.