Obama’s pitch to the few undecided voters

The Economists provides a good review of Obama’s acceptance speech. The Democratic convention:  Barack Obama’s pitch to the centre PERHAPS because there are so few of them, campaign strategists for both Barack Obama and Mitt Romney can describe the undecided voters who will help determine the outcome of this year’s election with remarkable precision. On Thursday evening image [Read More]

Bill versus Mitt

The conservative commentator put the finger on Mitt’s problem. Given the state of the economy, by any historical standard, Barack Obama should be 15 points behind Mitt Romney. Why is he tied? The empathy gap. On “caring about average people,” Obama wins by 22 points. Maintaining that gap was a principal goal of the Democratic image [Read More]

The Clint Eastwood show at the RNC

Two minutes after ten Thursday night, I turned on my TV to watch Mitt Romney’s acceptance speech. But there was Client Eastwood, giving an improvised speech that struck me as bizarre. During the past two days, the Client Eastwood show is the talked about event. If you have missed what Eastwood said, here is a image [Read More]

The Family Stone

There are many films about Christmas time and families coming together for a few days. This film is special in that it captures very well the rhythms of these family reunions. Most families find it difficult to keep any tensions that might exist under raps. The days move slowly, punctuated by rituals of eating, chatting, image [Read More]

A Thousand Words

Eddie Murphy is one of most talented comic actors.  Unlike Ted which was fresh and made me laugh throughout the entire movie, 1000 Words has a few good scenes but remains pretty mediocre.  Murphy plays Jack, a high-flying literary agent, who is angry that his father abandoned the family when he was around 10. As image [Read More]

Where Eagles Dare

The Alps are a natural spectacle. Many directors, of course, have realized this. The Sound of Music, for example, was filmed in and around Salzburg. 50 Kilometers south of Salzburg lies the fortress “Werfen.” Where Eagles Dare exploits the dramatic scenery of the fortress and its vicinity to stage a James Bond like spy story image [Read More]

The Ghostwriter

Many of recent Roman Polanksi film were masterpieces. The Pianist was breathtakingly good. The Ghostwriter manages to create a special atmosphere. But the ending was a complete letdown. I understand why Polanksi is not very pleased with American authorities who have been trying to arrest him for over 30 years. (See my recent review). Anyone image [Read More]