Breach

Breach chronicles how the mot damaging traitor in the history of the FBI was caught. This film has non of action sequences that made Shooter suspenseful. Robert Hanssen, who sold very important secrets to the Soviet Union, is portrayed as deeply religious catholic man who goes to church every day. The film implicitly suggests that image [Read More]

Flags of our Fathers

A few weeks ago, I sang the highest praises for Clint Eastwood’s Letters from Iwo Jima. My expectation was that Eastwood’sFlags of our Fathers would be an equally good movie, telling the story of the battle for Iwo Jima from the American side. To my great surprise, the prequel is stunningly inferior to Letters from image [Read More]

Catch and Release

One should not be a reviewer of a film in which a colleague has a gig. Richard Roeper (who together with Ebert forms the Chicago Sun-Times film critic team) said that he did not like the film based on the trailer, but came to like it quite a bit. This is chick’s film and not image [Read More]

Lust in Translation

]I just started to read Pamela Druckerman’s book on the rules of infidelity across different cultures. This report by the former Wall Street Journal writer is exceedingly entertaining and well written. I will publish a summary judgment when I have finished the book. But in the meantime, I want share a few good lines image [Read More]

America, the land of limited opportunities?

New evidence suggests that old Europe provides more opportunities economic mobility than the U.S. Even Canada comes out ahead. Read this interesting article by Clive Crook. Rags to Rags, Riches to Riches: Maybe it But is America any longer a land of opportunity for the people born here? The evidence, such as it is, points to a image [Read More]

Bridge to Terabithia

Many people claim that it is harder to make good friends when you are an adult. I am not sure if this is true.  Adults, perhaps having been disappointed more than once, may be less open than the average child to let a new person into their lives. The film celebrates the power of image [Read More]

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 image [Read More]

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 image [Read More]

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 image [Read More]