The Time Traveler’s Wife

At long last!  Here is the first trailer for the book-into-film that has experienced many unfortunate delays.

THIS Is What I’m Talkin’ ‘Bout!

If you haven’t read Cormac McCarthy’s The Road, there’s still time…

But do it before this is released.  I dare you.

A Sad Day In The World

One of my favorite entertainers has died.

Eartha Kitt was an actress, cabaret singer, and pop star.  My favorite memory of her work is when she played the voice of Yzma, the villian in the animated film The Emperor’s New Groove. She played alongside David Spade, John Goodman, and Patrick Warburton.

She was 81 at the time of her death from colon cancer.  The following is from her biography:

EARTHA KITT is an international star who gives new meaning to the word versatile. She has distinguished herself in film, theater, cabaret, music and on television. Miss Kitt is one of only a handful of performers to be nominated for a Tony (three times), the Grammy (twice), and Emmy Award (twice). She regularly enthralls New York nightclub audiences during her extended stays at THE CAFÉ CARLYLE and these intimate performances have been captured in her newest recording, Eartha Kitt, Live at The Carlyle.

Miss Kitt’s distinctive voice has enthralled an entirely new generation of fans. Young fans loved her as YZMA, the villain, in Disney’s animated feature THE EMPEROR’S NEW GROOVE, (2001 Annie Award for Best Vocal Performance / Animated Feature). Miss Kitt was also featured in the sequel, THE EMPEROR’S NEW GROOVE II and reprised the role in the popular Saturday morning animated series THE EMPEROR’S NEW SCHOOL for which she received a 2007 and 2008 Emmy Award for Outstanding Performer in an Animated Program and a 2007 and 2008 Annie Award for Best Vocal Performance in an Animated Television Production.

Eartha Mae Kitt was ostracized at an early age because of her mixed-race heritage. At eight years old, she was given away by her mother and sent from the South Carolina cotton fields to live with an aunt in Harlem. In New York her distinct individuality and flair for show business manifested itself, and on a friend’s dare, the shy teen auditioned for the famed KATHERINE DUNHAM DANCE TROUPE. She won a spot as a featured dancer and vocalist and before the age of twenty, toured worldwide with the company. During a performance in Paris, Miss Kitt was spotted by a nightclub owner and booked as a featured singer at his club. Her unique persona earned her fans and fame quickly, including Orson Welles, who called her “the most exciting woman in the world”. Welles was so taken with her talent that he cast her as Helen of Troy in his fabled production of DR. FAUST.

Back in New York, Miss Kitt was booked at The Village Vanguard, and soon spotted by a Broadway producer who put her in NEW FACES OF 1952 where every night she transfixed audiences with her sultry rendition of Monotonous. Her show stopping performance in NEW FACES, which ran for a year, led to a national tour and a Twentieth Century Fox film version.

Broadway stardom led to a recording contract and a succession of best-selling records including Love for Sale, I Want to Be Evil, Santa Baby and Folk Tales of the Tribes of Africa, which earned her a Grammy nomination. During this period, she published her first autobiography, THURSDAY’S CHILD. Miss Kitt then returned to Broadway in the dramatic play MRS. PATTERSON, and received her first Tony nomination. Other stage appearances followed, as did films including THE MARK OF The HAWK with Sidney Poitier, ANNA LUCASTA with Sammy Davis, Jr. and ST LOUIS BLUES with Nat King Cole.

In 1967, Miss Kitt made an indelible mark on pop culture as the infamous CATWOMAN in the television series, BATMAN. She immediately became synonymous with the role and her trademark growl became imitated worldwide.

Singing in ten different languages, Miss Kitt has performed in over 100 countries and was honored with a star on The Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1960. In 1966, she was nominated for an Emmy for her role in the series, I SPY. In 1968, Miss Kitt’s career took a sudden turn when, at a White House luncheon hosted by Lady Bird Johnson, she spoke out against the Vietnam War. For years afterward, Miss Kitt was blacklisted in the U.S. and was forced to work abroad where her status remained undiminished. In December 2006 she returned to Washington and lit the National Christmas Tree alongside President and Mrs. George W. Bush

In 1974, Miss Kitt returned to the United States, with a triumphant Carnegie Hall concert and, in 1978, received a second Tony nomination for her starring role in the musical, TIMBUKTU. Miss Kitt’s second autobiography, ALONE WITH ME, was published in 1976 and I’M STILL HERE: CONFESSIONS OF A SEX KITTEN was released in 1989. Her best-selling book on fitness and positive attitude, REJUVENATE! (IT’S NEVER TOO LATE), was released by Scribner in May 2001.

Live theater is Miss Kitt’s passion. In 2001, Broadway critics singled her out with a Tony and Drama Desk nomination for her role as Dolores in George Wolfe’s THE WILD PARTY. Over the last few years, she has starred in National Tours of THE WIZARD OF OZ and Rogers & Hammerstein’s CINDERELLA. In December 2003, Miss Kitt dazzled Broadway audiences as Liliane Le Fleur in the revival of NINE, THE MUSICAL. In December 2004, she appeared as The Fairy Godmother in The New York City Opera production (Lincoln Center) of CINDERELLA. She also starred in the off-Broadway production of MIMI LE DUCK (2006) and The Westport County Playhouse production of THE SKIN OF OUR TEETH (2007).

Miss Kitt remains devoted to performing in front of live audiences, from intimate cabarets to concert halls with local symphonies. Recent engagements include appearances with The Atlanta Symphony, The Portland Symphony, Detroit’s Music Hall, D.C.’s Blues Alley, Seattle’s Jazz Alley, Palm Beach’s Kravis Center for the Performing Arts, The Mohegan Sun, Sarasota’s Van Wetzel Center for the Performing Arts Festival. She is especially proud to have brought her one-woman show to the 51st Annual JVC Newport Jazz Festival and the Miami Beach JVC Jazz Festival.

In February 2007, Miss Kitt returned to London after a 15 year absence for a remarkable series of sold-out performances at The Shaw Theater. She returned to Great Britain in 2008 to critical raves at London’s Place Pigalle and to headline the prestigious Cheltenham Jazz Festival .

On January 17 2007, Miss Kitt turned eighty years old and marked the occasion at Carnegie Hall with a celebratory concert, JVC Jazz presents EARTHA KITT AND FRIENDS.

May 2008 Lists!

Books, Films, and DVDs enjoyed (or not) this month:

♦♦♦♦♦ = Excellent! Highly Recommended

♦♦♦♦ = Not bad. Missing some key elements that would’ve made it better.

♦♦♦ = Meh. Nice filler. Take it or leave it.

♦♦ = Danger, Will Robinson.

♦ = Holy Crap! How did this ever see the light of day?

These ratings are, of course, based on personal preferences as well as professional opinion. So…here ya go!

PICK OF THE MONTH:

Book

So Brave, Young, and Handsome – Drama – Leif Enger ♦♦♦♦♦

This second novel from the author of Peace Like A River tells the story of outlaw Glendon Hale’s quest to right his past, as seen through the eyes of his unlikely companion Monte Becket. So Brave, Young, and Handsome begins with Becket, a struggling novelist bewildered by the success of his first book, who has pledged to his wife, son, and publisher to “write one thousand words a day until another book is finished.” Four years and six unfinished novels later, Becket sits on the porch of his Minnesota farmhouse about to give up on number seven, when he spies a man standing up in his boat “rowing upstream through the ropy mists of the Cannon River.” Eager to set aside his waning tale about handsome ranch hand Dan Roscoe, Becket calls out to the mysterious white-haired boatman and his life changes forever. At turns merry and wistful, romantic and tragic, So Brave, Young, and Handsome is as absorbing as a campfire tale, full of winking outlaws and relentless villains–the sort of story to keep you on the edge of your seat with hope in your heart. Even though the story unfolds at a casual pace, the writing is evocative and poetic, and Enger’s voice is in fine form in this excellent novel.

DVD

The Black Donnellys: Season 1 – Crime Drama ♦♦♦♦♦

From the Oscar-winning writers of Crash and the writer of Million Dollar Baby comes a bold and edgy crime-drama series:The Black Donnellys. Four very different Irish-American brothers – Kevin, Jimmy, Tommy, and Sean – have sworn to live by the code of “family first.” But as they become increasingly involved in the ruthless world of New York organized crime, their loyalties to their friends and their loved ones, and especially to each other will be put to the ultimate test. This is one of the best series I’ve ever seen on network on television, and I was devastated yesterday when I searched their website only to discover that the show was pulled before the first season was completely shown. Don’t know why. Gritty, real, engaging, and entertaining, I hope NBC pulls their heads out and revives this awesome show. Better than The Sopranos!

MAY READS

Adam - Thriller – Ted Dekker ♦♦♦♦

Killer Year - Mystery – Various (Anthology) ♦♦♦

The Genius - Mystery – Jesse Kellerman ♦♦♦♦♦

Delusion – Suspense – Peter Abrahams ♦♦♦♦

The Unquiet – Supernatural Thriller – John Connolly ♦♦♦♦♦

Invasive Procedure – Science Thriller – Orson Scott Card/Aaron Johnston ♦♦

The Pastures of Heaven - Drama – John Steinbeck ♦♦♦♦♦

So Brave, Young, and Handsome – Drama – Leif Enger ♦♦♦♦♦

UPCOMING READS

• The Pact – Drama – Jodi Picoult
• Flesh and Spirit – Fantasy – Carol Berg
• Breath and Bone – Fantasy – Carol Berg
• The Wise Man’s Fear – Fantasy – Patrick Rothfuss
• Wolf at the Table – Non-Fiction – Augusten Burroughs
• Now You See Him – Thriller – Eli Gottlieb
• Tweak: Growing Up on Methamphetamines – Non-Fiction – Nic Sheff
• What Now? – Non-Fiction – Ann Patchett
• The Broken Window – Thriller – Jeffrey Deaver
• The Blue Religion – Mystery – Various (Anthology)
• The Reapers – Thriller – John Connolly
• Where Did I Leave My Glasses? - Non-Fiction – Martha Weinman Lear
• Ghost Brigades - Science Fiction – John Scalzi
• Child of God – Drama – Cormac McCarthy
• The Story of Edgar Sawtelle – Drama – David Wroblewski
• The Legend of Colton H. Bryant – Drama – Alexandra Fuller
• Odd Hours – Supernatural Suspense – Dean Koontz
• In Odd We Trust – Supernatural Suspense – Dean Koontz

MAY DVDs and FILMS

The Brotherhood: Season 1 – Crime Drama ♦♦♦♦♦

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull – Action/Adventure ♦♦♦♦♦

Mario’s Story – Documentary ♦♦♦♦

The Black Donnellys: Season 1 – Drama ♦♦♦♦♦

The Great Debaters – Drama ♦♦♦♦♦

Friday Night Lights: Season 1 – Drama ♦♦♦♦

UPCOMING DVDs and FILMS

• The Golden Compass – Fantasy
• Charlie Wilson’s War – Historical Drama
• The Kite Runner - Drama
• Into The Wild – Drama
• The Brave One – Thriller
• War, Inc. – Political Comedy
• Star Trek XI - Sci-Fi
• Batman: The Dark Knight – Action/Adventure
• X-Files: I Want To Believe – Drama/Sci-Fi

April Lists!

Being the consummate list whore, I bring to you a compendium of books, films, and DVDs I enjoyed (or not) in April. I thought about presenting them as I completed them, but that would require that I actually review each one, and I don’t have the time nor the inclination to do so. Instead, I have presented them in this format for easier viewing on both your end and mine. I did take a moment to rate them on a scale of 1-5:

♦♦♦♦♦ = Excellent! Highly Recommended

♦♦♦♦ = Not bad. Missing some key elements that would’ve made it better.

♦♦♦ = Meh. Nice filler. Take it or leave it.

♦♦ = Danger, Will Robinson.

♦ = Holy Crap! How did this ever see the light of day?

These ratings are, of course, based on personal preferences as well as professional opinion. So…here ya go!

APRIL READS

• Chasing Windmills – Drama – Catherine Ryan Hyde ♦♦♦♦♦
• Compulsion – Suspense – Jonathan Kellerman ♦♦♦
• Small Favor – Fantasy – Jim Butcher ♦♦♦♦♦
• Change of Heart – Drama – Jodi Picoult ♦♦♦♦♦
• The Forgery of Venus -Suspense – Michael Gruber ♦♦
• A Wicked Snow – Thriller – Gregg Olsen ♦
• Adam – Thriller – Ted Dekker ♦♦♦♦♦
• A New Earth - Non-Fiction – Eckhart Tolle ♦♦♦♦♦
• At Risk - Mystery – Patricia Cornwell ♦♦♦♦♦
• If You Want To Write - Non-Fiction – Brenda Ueland ♦♦♦♦♦
• The Blade Itself – Thriller – Marcus Sakey ♦

UPCOMING READS

• The Unquiet – Thriller – John Connolly
• Killer Year – Mystery – Various (Anthology)
• The Pastures of Heaven - Drama – John Steinbeck
• The Pact – Drama – Jodi Picoult
• The Genius – Thriller – Jesse Kellerman
• Delusion – Suspense – Peter Abrahams
• Flesh and Spirit – Fantasy – Carol Berg
• Breath and Bone – Fantasy – Carol Berg
• The Wise Man’s Fear – Fantasy – Patrick Rothfuss
• Wolf at the Table – Non-Fiction – Augusten Burroughs
• Now You See Him – Thriller – Eli Gottlieb
• Tweak: Growing Up on Methamphetamines – Non-Fiction – Nic Sheff
• What Now? – Non-Fiction – Ann Patchett
• The Broken Window – Thriller – Jeffrey Deaver
• The Blue Religion – Mystery – Various (Anthology)
• The Reapers – Thriller – John Connolly
• So Brave, So Young, So Handsome – Drama – Leif Enger

APRIL DVDs and FILMS

• Cloverfield – Horror ♦♦♦♦♦
• No Country For Old Men – Suspense ♦♦♦♦♦
• Michael Clayton – Suspense ♦♦♦♦
• I Am Legend – Horror ♦♦♦♦♦
• Battlestar Galactica: Season 3 – Sci-Fi ♦♦♦♦♦
• Battlestar Galactica: Season 2 - Sci-Fi ♦♦♦♦♦
• The Tudors: Season 1 – Historical Drama ♦♦♦
• Elizabeth: The Golden Age – Historical Drama ♦♦♦♦♦
• Battlestar Galactica: Razor – Sci-Fi ♦♦♦♦♦
• Gone, Baby, Gone – Suspense ♦♦♦♦♦
• Martian Child – Drama ♦♦♦♦♦

UPCOMING DVDs and FILMS

• The Brotherhood: Season 1 – Drama
• The Great Debaters – Drama
• The Golden Compass – Fantasy
• Charlie Wilson’s War – Historical Drama
• The Kite Runner - Drama
• Into The Wild – Drama
• The Brave One – Thriller
• War, Inc. – Political Comedy
• Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull – Action/Adventure
• Star Trek XI - Sci-Fi
• Batman: The Dark Knight – Action/Adventure
• X-Files: I Want To Believe – Drama/Sci-Fi
• The Black Donnelly’s: Season 1 - Drama

Please Pass The Catch-Up

Yeah, yeah, I can hear the groans from here over the pun of the title. So spank me. (pretty please?)

This is a catch-up post, wherein I follow up on several previous posts and other stuff.

Books: Lets see what’s on my so-called “reading table,” which is really just a spot I cleaned on the dining room table (aka The Hub) for books that I want to read soon, and ones that have to either be returned to the library or loaned to friends or donated to the homeless shelter.

Just finished a somewhat horrible “thriller” called The Blade Itself by Marcus Sakey. Actually, I didn’t finish it, slamming the cover shut about fifteen pages from the end. Here’s the review I posted on Amazon.com:

Read this book on the strength of Publisher Weekly’s review. Had to keep checking that I was reading the same book that others have raved about just to be sure it was the same one. While I’m happy that Sakey got a publishing deal for his work, this story was entirely predictable, the writing cliched and trite, the action handled clumsily, and the ending telegraphed so early on, it was painful to read through to the end…which I finally gave up on. It felt as if I was always twenty pages ahead of not only the author, but the characters, too. There was nothing notable or new in this story. Evan, the antagonist, was a cartoon, and Danny, the bad-boy-gone-good protagonist, was weakly drawn and unbelievable. By the time I gave up reading, I was hoping that the protagonist would either stop justifying his actions with weak inner arguments, or get killed. That’s not a good thing. Will I read anything else by this author? No. Opening this book was a day in my life that I will never be able to retrieve. This is one book that could have used a good critique group before publishing.

I really hate feeling like I have wasted time reading a book when there are so many great ones out there. I’m now reading Old Man’s War by John Scalzi. Greg has also listed a good book on his blog that I’m going to look into…ahem, no pun intended.

Film/DVD: I gave up on Netflix yesterday. I struggled with their recent and suddenly poor customer service, and then their entire website crashed for two days during which they could not ship anything nor answer questions about their customer’s accounts. Been checking out Blockbuster’s order-from-home service, and decided that for the money, they offer a better plan. So I joined yesterday, and guess what the first DVD will be that I’ll receive? The first disc of Battlestar Galactica, Season 3. So say we all, ya bastards!

Music: Every day, I am more impressed by John Mayer. His songwriting abilities, his down-to-earth demeanor, and most of all, his incredible insight and intelligence. If you haven’t scoped out his blog, you might be surprised by how non-musical it is. He writes from the heart in an eloquent and folksy way that really strikes a chord for me. Check it out!

Right now, what with the new satellite radio hookup I have in my car, my listening tastes are all over the map. I’m allowed 30 presets on my car stereo just for the satellite stations alone, and I am hard pressed to be able to fit all of my favorites on there. From classic rock to techno, from chillout to 80s tunes, it’s all there. Talk radio, too! I’m thinking about moving into my car full time. It might get a bit cramped what with my two big hairy kids, but we’ll manage somehow. Or maybe I’ll just rent them their own place.

Brad Renfro, 25, Dies

Actor Brad Renfro has died at age 25, PEOPLE has confirmed.

Renfro died Tuesday at a Los Angeles apartment where he spent the night with friends, Craig Harvey, chief investigator for the Los Angeles county coroner, tells PEOPLE.

Renfro was heard snoring overnight, but found not breathing later Tuesday morning, and the friends called 911. Paramedics declared him dead at the scene at about 9 a.m., Harvey says.

A cause of death was not immediately determined, but Renfro had a history of drug problems.

Drug overdose is a “possibility considering his history, but right now all we have is the history of his drinking the previous night,” Harvey says. “All that we have is that he was last known to be alive during the morning hours and he was snoring.”

The actor, who starred in The Client and Apt Pupil, had recently completed a movie with Winona Ryder and Billy Bob Thornton.

Discovered at Age 12
Film director Joel Schumacher discovered Renfro at age 12 and cast him in the 1994 John Grisham movie The Client (which also starred Susan Sarandon and Tommy Lee Jones). The following year, PEOPLE named the young screen hopeful one of its “Top 30 Under 30.” The actor’s other credits include Tom and Huck, Ghost World and Deuces Wild.

But Renfro had a troubled life off-screen, going back to 1997 when he was sentenced to two years of probation after he tried to steal a yacht.

In 2005, Renfro was busted again, this time in a police sting in which he was charged with a felony count of attempting to possess heroin. In a separate incident, he was charged with a misdemeanor count of driving under the influence and two counts of driving with a suspended license.

In January 2006, he entered a rehab program. At the time, Renfro’s attorney, Richard Kaplan, told the Los Angeles Times that his client was doing well and “looks forward to doing whatever is necessary to take care of his personal and legal issues.” Renfro eventually plead guilty to the heroin charge and was sentenced to three years’ probation.

Most recently, in June 2007 Renfro was found to have violated his probation by not enrolling in a long-term drug treatment program. A judge warned him that if he violated probation two more times, he could be sentence to a live-in rehab program or to jail time.

Super Cinema Saturday!

As it was a long weekend for me, I decided to catch up on some of the films I meant to see when they were in theaters, but for one reason or another was unable to. On Saturday morning, I toddled off to my local video rental store to browse the shelves.

Gack!

I didn’t realize that there was so much dreck being released and called “film.” Using my Netflix queue (which I handily stored in my noggin) I wandered the shelves. These are the three I went home with:

Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End
Waitress
Rescue Dawn

I watched them in that order, as well. Here are my thoughts:

Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End

Oh please please pul-LEAZE won’t you stop making sequels that suck? The first installation was brilliant in every way. The second one only semi-sucked. This one?

I couldn’t even get to the end. Within the first hour I shut it off, disgusted, and went to read a book. The characters were flat, the dialogue was insipid, the story — what there was of it — was flat, and the imagery was rehashed from the first two films.

Did no one on the director’s crew even watch the first two to see what happened in them? This story was obviously meant to cash in on the franchise and the popularity of the first one.

Someone at Disney should be spanked for wasting the world’s time with this. At World’s End, indeed. I can’t waste even one more moment on this piece of garbage.

Waitress

This film made me want to eat pie. A whole lotta pie.

Filmed with luscious colors and camera angles, Waitress, starring Keri Russel and Nathan Fillion (Serenity, Firefly) tries very hard to be this year’s My Big Fat Greek Wedding. And it almost works.

Russel is adorable as well as stunningly beautiful in a totally Iowa/cornfed/Midwestern way and pulls this role of an abused wife off very well. Andy Griffith as the curmudgeonly owner of the restaurant where Russell works was a brilliant piece of casting, and he deserved any award or nomination he got for the role. However, those elements alone weren’t enough to save this sweet little gem of a movie.

The director, who also starred in the film, telegraphed the upcoming scenes to the viewer…meaning that it was very easy to see what was coming. This created a little bit of tension (especially in the abusive husband scenes), and the interaction between Fillion and Russell was “cute.” But the humor, for me, was far too self-conscious, taking the bite out of those scenes.

All in all, it was a sweet film, but nothing to get too excited about. Worth seeing if you have 100 minutes to kill while waiting for your clothes to come out of the dryer.

Rescue Dawn

I don’t think I’ve ever seen a film that starred Christian Bale that was bad. A very realistic hostage/rescue story based on the true-life story of one Dieter Dangler.

Taking place at the beginning of the Vietnam war…before it was even actually considered a war…Rescue Dawn tells Dangler’s story with intensity and an unflinching look at the horrors of surviving in an unfriendly country.

Steve Zahn (Happy, Texas; Saving Silverman) also stars in this, and I felt it was an unfortunate bit of casting, for Zahn is a great comedic actor and this role was far too serious for him. I kept expecting him to burst into some inspired bit of comedy…but of course, that never happened. Bale, on the other hand, was perfectly cast, and I enjoyed watching him eat up the performance, as he does nearly every role he accepts. While there was nothing surprising in this film, it was well done by Werner Herzog, utilizing his trademark imagery (His films contain animals doing unusual things (watch for the dog in the prison camp);His films contain long, extended landscape shots (nearly every other scene opened in this fashion)).

I was wholly engrossed for the entirety of the film, and felt it was well-written, well-acted, and believable. If you like war films based on actual stories, this one is worth your time.

Other films I have seen recently:

Alpha Dog – raw and unflinching, this one has stayed in my head since I saw it. So much so, that I went out and bought it. From Netflix: Nick Cassavetes helmed this gritty, character-driven drama based on the true story of Jesse James Hollywood — one of the youngest men ever to appear on the FBI’s Most Wanted list. Planning to follow in his criminal father’s footsteps, drug-peddling Johnny Truelove (Emile Hirsch) finds himself in dutch with the feds and facing a lifetime behind bars. The high-powered cast includes Justin Timberlake, Sharon Stone and Bruce Willis.

Ocean’s Thirteen – See my plea regarding sequels in the review for Pirates of the Caribbean 3. All I can say to Hollywood is: Stop it. Stop it right now.

New 2 Me

I try not to watch much television.

Sometimes, though, I manage to squeeze in a movie on the weekend, or catch up on new shows that have been released on DVD. In a week, I might get 40-50 minutes in the evening of pure, unadulterated viewing…which means that I’m not on the phone, or writing, or being nagged by the pups to go outside again. I’ve worked my way through both seasons of Battlestar Galactica (with no firm release date yet in the U.S. for Season Three…), the first season of Heroes (great frackin’ storytelling!), the first season of Morgan Spurlock’s Thirty Days, season five of 24, and the first disc of season one of The Henry Rollins Show (bleah…).

Needing a distraction this past weekend, I went to The Evil Empire Blockbuster to see what was on the shelves. There were a couple items that are in my NetFlix queue that I decided to check into. The first one, Brothers & Sisters, is a family drama in the vein of that show from ‘76 called Family. (Remember that one with Kristy McNichol and Meredith Baxter Birney?).

Brothers & Sisters stars Sally Field (she won an Emmy for her role in this), Calista Flockheart, Balthazar Getty, Ron Rifkin, and Rob Lowe. It also had Tom Skerritt in there for like a minute. Rachel Griffiths from Six Feet Under stars, as well…and I just lllloooooooove her. The show borders on schlocky, but with just enough emotional drama to overcome the other elements I thought were obvious ploys to get grown men to cry. It worked. I believe I’m now officially hooked. The acting is awesome, and the story is interesting enough to keep me watching. So I will.

The other item I picked up was the first disc, season one of Dexter. Based on the absolutely brilliant novels by Jeff Lindsay (Dearly Devoted Dexter, Darkly Dreaming Dexter, and Dexter in the Dark) this Showtime series follows the book pretty closely, but also throws in many twists and other storylines to make this really interesting. Written by a good friend of mine, Clyde Phillips (Trapper John, M.D., Suddenly Susan, Parker Lewis Can’t Lose, et al, as well as being an awesome thriller writer), I’m very deeply hooked on this incredibly graphic series. Unfortunately, the last few episodes I’ve watched were during dinner. Not recommended for mealtime, but highly recommended if you like your humor dark and twisted, with some very interesting moral dilemmas thrown into the mix.

The Bourne Ultimatum

The Bourne Ultimatum (or, How to make really really creative use out of found objects):

As mentioned earlier, I went and viewed the abovementioned film on Saturday. Now, I should clarify that I absolutely love this trilogy. So, perhaps my review will be a bit subjective.

I tried numerous times to get into the novel versions of Robert Ludlum’s seminal series featuring Jason Bourne. However, I found the writing not to my liking. The films, however, are hugely entertaining, thrilling, and everything a great on-screen thriller should be. Never once did I question Matt Damon’s portrayal of the amnesia-inflicted Bourne. That goes a long way to making a movie enjoyable. The hype never overran the artistry of the film, unlike, say, Tom Cruise in Interview With The Vampire.

In Ultimatum, we find Bourne regaining more and more of his past — sometimes at incredibly inopportune times. We also learn a lot of backstory about the character that puts so much of the previous films into place, especially the reasons why Nicky Parsons (Julie Stiles) seems to want to help Bourne so much, and why she also seems so afraid of him.

Everything worked in Ultimatum. The plot, the acting, the overarching storylines…all of it. I loved the director’s, Paul Greengrass (whose name, interestingly, comes up on Nikki’s computer during one pivotal scene in this film. The jump cuts are so quick, though, this will be the time when the “pause” button comes in handy on your DVD player) jumpy and hyperactive film style. The answers posed in the first two films are all answered here, with great style and tremendous action scenes. It is rumored that Damon had the flu while filming this third installment…but if he did, it only heightened his acting, as Bourne is a man tortured by things he can’t quite remember. There didn’t seem to be even one wasted frame of film here, for which I applaud the editors.

If I were to rate this against Casino Royale, the much-touted Bond film, I would say that Ultimatum blows that one out of the water. But as I mentioned, I’m quite biased toward the Bourne films. Will I be buying the DVD version when this comes out?

Absolutely.

Some trivia about the film:

During one of the scenes in the New York CIA office, a picture of Donald Rumsfeld can be seen on one of the computer monitors.

It took six weeks to film the climactic car chase in downtown New York City.

During the final car chase in NYC all the cars are going 35 MPH or slower. The NYPD was afraid of pedestrians getting hurt and wouldn’t let filming crews go any faster.

In the novels the trilogy is based on, Jason Bourne speaks French and “Eastern dialects”. But in the movie, he speaks fluent English, Italian, German, Dutch and French.

Although you can’t see all the details on Nicky’s computer when watching the film (since it’s cut too fast), you will find that when Nicky looks-up Desh Bouksani on her laptop, and finds that Desh is “the Asset”, there is a list of code-outs (from Blackbriar) that are quite interesting to read. The Contact Code List is: STONE BLUE: Terminate with extreme prejudice. RIVER RED: Discretion required. GRASS GREEN: Accidental death. ALPHA PAPER: Suicide. KEY BRAVO: Build case termination scenario. BLUE SKY: Proceed. LOOK BACK: Contact handler. MOUSE TRAP: Case compromised, exercise caution. INTERSTATE: New target location. FIRE LINE: Special weapons pickup required. TALK DOWN: Case action on hold, do not proceed. LOCK STEP: Follow target, observe and report.

A copy of Bill Clinton’s autobiography, “My Life,” appears on the bookshelf in Vosen’s office.

P.S.- This film gets my vote for the most creative use of a textbook in a fight scene, hands down.