The Painted Veil
The film starts out slow and seems predictable. But after thirty minutes it takes unexpected turns. Beautiful landscape photos of China and a novel approach to fixing relationship problems give this movie considerable charm. This is the second film version of W. Somerset Maugham novel by the same name. Naomi Watt now has the role that was played by Greta Garbo in the 1934 film.
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The Holidays
Two ladies (Cameron Diaz and Kate Winslet) suffer romantic disappointments and feel they need to go away for the holidays. The swap their homes (LA and the British countryside) and want to chill out without men. Well, easier said than done… The trailer for this romantic comedy turned me off, but I was pleasantly surprised by The Holidays. Once again I realized that I am in love with Cameron Diaz and Jude Law. Both are so fun to watch and together in the same picture they present a true feast for the eyes. Jack Black is miscast in the role. He can give an Oscar quality performance in a real comedy such as School of Rock but looks weird in a dramatic role.
Mrs. Queen goes to Washington
Queen Elizabeth is arriving in Washington in a few days. The state dinner at the White House is billed as the social event of Bush’s presidency. George Tenet is not on the guest list. The press is full of stories about whether George Bush will be able to behave as one is supposed to in the presence of the Queen. What nobody seems to worry about is that the Queen might try to pay respect to the manners of her host country and smack George Bush in the face. “Georgie that’s for Iraq.”
The picture on the right is the Queen on her first visit to the U.S. in 1957.
Continue ReadingExpert to examine the relative comforts of the Hilton and a jail cell
One of my guilty pleasures is to follow the act that Paris Hilton puts on for the world. I don’t know her. Nor do I claim to have figured out what drives this lady to seek the lime light. She is clearly one of the world’s most well-known brands. Being only twenty-six this is no small accomplishment. After voluntarily moving to a small farm for a reality TV show (The Simple Life), she is involuntarily moving into a prison cell. I would not be surprised if she manages to land another reality TV show gig called “The Prison Life.” Read below the details why a judge sent her to prison for 45 days. Sing Sing for someone who only wanted to be a famous singer.
Heaven
The film reminded me that good art is not artificial. Great art heightens our awareness of reality. Heaven fails because it feels contrived and artificial. Cate Blanchett has one scene in which she unleashes her full acting ability. But she cannot make up for a week script written by Krzysztof Kieslowski, who I admired greatly for the “Three Colors” trilogy. Tom Twyker (the director) covered much more compellingly the idea that love may become more important than life in his splendid The Princess and the Warrior.” The only pleasing feature of the film was the magnificent Italian landscape. But if you want to see a beautiful southern Europe, watch Twyker’s recent movie The Perfume: The story of a murderer which has an amazing plot. The Perfume is a great piece of art.
News from the battle between Science and Religion
As readers of this web diary know, I love the New Yorker magazine. It happens rarely that I truly dislike an article in what I consider the best magazine in the world. A few weeks ago, however, I was quite disappointed with Jane Kramer’s portrait of Pope Benedict. I felt that she was uncharacteristically off mark, failing to get at the core of what makes Benedict tick. As I wrote previously, the tragedy of the present Pope is that when having to choose between his deep love for the traditions of the church and his love for humans beings, he sides with the traditions. But he is clearly not a reactionary nor a fool. A few days ago, I read an summary of what the Pope says about evolution in a recent German language book on Creation and Evolution, which was based on a conference attended by the leader of the catholic church. The Pope, confirming my sense that he is a darn smart fellow, did not claim that the Darwin’s theory of evolution is wrong, but simply holds that it does not explain everything. Even a hardcore Darwinist can agree this position. Last night I read a fantastic article in the Economist surveying the present backlash against Darwinism, which did a much better job in portraying Benedict’s intellectual positions. For me the most interesting part of the article was to see how the catholic church itself is divided on how to deal with Darwin’s insights. Father George Coyne takes the most interesting position.
Miss Potter
Miss Potter portrays the life of the best-selling British children’s book author ]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beatrix_Potter] Beatrix Potter[/url]. Many authors invent fantastic stories while leading relatively boring lives. Mrs. Potter falls into this category. A film about her life has very little drama to work with. Not much happens on the screen. This is the first time I was able to write a report on the plane while watching this film. I guess that is not much a compliment.
Freedom Writers
The film tells the true-life story of Erin Gruwell, a magnificent teacher in Long Beach, California, who turns a class of violent teenagers into successful students, who leave their gang background behind to become published authors. The film has moments that are truly inspiring and moving. But too often banal or cheesy lines creep into the dialogues. The best part of the film is the music that is wonderfully communicates atmosphere violent American ghettos.
Happy Feet
This musical on ice cannot compete with Pixar’s animated films as far as plot is concerned. But some if its Southpole animations can rival what Pixar pulled off in Finding Nemo. The film initially covers similar territory as The March of Penguins but then turns into a fantasy about singing Penguins. One Penguin cannot sing, but he makes up for with his dance abilities. The story is thin but the animations and music keep you engaged.
Justin Timberlake’s Reflection on Singlehood
In a recent interview, Justin Timberlake, who in January split with Cameron Diaz (his costar in Shrek pictured on the right, who also attended the press day), said being single has its ups and downs:
“The advantages are that you don’t get in as many arguments, and the disadvantage is that you’re talking to yourself.”
Apparantly, Justin does not like to talk to himself. Click on “More” to find who is in rumored to be his new “conversation partner.”
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