Arts & Entertainment
'Driving Lessons' runs low on fuel
By PHIL VILLARREAL
Tuesday, November 21, 2006
"Driving Lessons" is one of those mentor-neophyte dramas that mashes together an outcast old youngster with an outcast young oldster, has them hit it off after they discover they have a lot in common, then tries to jerk tears out of your eyes when death or cruel society severs the misunderstood relationship.
Usually, it's the old character who's slow and stodgy yet inspired by the impulsive joy of the youngster, who in turn benefits from the oldster's wisdom.
Brando, Cooper DVD packages released
By BRUCE DANCIS
Monday, November 20, 2006
Gary Cooper and Marlon Brando were both major Hollywood stars, but they couldn't have been more different as actors.
Cooper, the epitome of the "strong, silent type" of film actor for whom changes of emotion resonate only slightly on his usually placid face, got his start when he literally had to be silent, during the last years of the silent-film era.
Brando emerged two decades after Cooper as the quintessential Method actor, inhabiting and playing complex, tormented characters on both the stage and screen.
"The Marlon Brando Collection" (Warner Home Video, $59.92, various ratings) and "Gary Cooper: The Signature Collection" (Warner Home Video, $49.92, various ratings) bring together five films apiece from these famous actors.
'House of Sand' leaves viewers high and dry
By PHIL VILLARREAL
Sunday, November 19, 2006
"House of Sand" begins on a note borrowed from "Lawrence of Arabia." The screen is composed almost entirely of sweeping sands of desert plains. Tiny specs emerge and turn out to be a caravan struggling across the desolate landscape.
Sadly, the sequence is a metaphor for the viewers' struggle to endure the too-long, too-dry drama.
Brazilian director Andrucha Waddington follows three generations of women over six decades in a remote, arid region of Brazil.
'Lay of the Land' proves Ford is heir to Updike, Roth
By BOB HOOVER
Tuesday, November 21, 2006
_ "THE LAY OF THE LAND." By Richard Ford. Knopf. $26.95.
Life is a hard proposition. It takes focus, effort, fancy footwork, false encouragement and a clean shirt.
Comic industry offerings remain hot as weather cools
By ANDREW A. SMITH
Tuesday, November 21, 2006
I'm going to blame global warming: November's comic-book offerings are just as hot as those in the summer months. What happened to the old days, when the industry would go into a coma during the winter? Now I have to stay alert year-round!
Speaking of the old days, November's most important offering is a reprint: the second of Gemstone's hardback EC Archives series, "Shock SuspenStories" Vol.
American artists inspire Aussie's solo debut
By WAYNE BLEDSOE
Tuesday, November 21, 2006
Bernard Fanning knows that being a star in Australia is no guarantee of making it big in the United States.
For 16 years Fanning has been lead singer in the band Powderfinger _ multi-platinum sellers in Australia who seemed ready to break in the United States with the song "My Happiness" back in 2001.
'Color of the Cross' challenges traditional view of Jesus
By JASON B. JOHNSON
Sunday, November 19, 2006
For many, the image of Jesus is that of a white man with wavy blond hair and blue eyes _ kind of like Jeffrey Hunter in 1961's "King of Kings." But a new film, "Color of the Cross," shows the Christian savior as a black man.
'Babel' is engaging, but time-hopping is losing its charm
By BETSY PICKLE
Sunday, November 19, 2006
Not all the world's a stage for "Babel," but several chunks of it are. Characters appear on cue in Morocco and Mexico, Japan and the United States. As the title suggests, the film boasts a mix of languages, with people failing to understand each other's words, meanings and motives.
The main point director Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu and screenwriter Guillermo Arriaga seem to want to make is that the citizens of the world are all connected.
IRS agent finds key to new life in 'Stranger Than Fiction'
By ROBERT DENERSTEIN
Friday, November 17, 2006
"Stranger Than Fiction" begins with a narrator describing the waking hours of a fastidious IRS auditor who lives alone in his appallingly clean, super-organized Washington, D.C., apartment.
Within a few minutes, Harold Crick (Will Ferrell) comes off as a poster boy for anal retention.
What's new on video
By MIKE PEARSON
Friday, November 17, 2006
(Cars. Disney. 116 min. Rated G. $29.99. Grade: C+)
The people at Pixar aren't infallible after all.
Consider "Cars," the most pedestrian movie to date from the studio that gave us "The Incredibles," "Monsters Inc.," "Finding Nemo" and "Toy Story." It's nowhere near that level.
Director John Lasseter has concocted a story for the NASCAR crowd that cleaves to cliche.
