Journalist, Author & Syndicated Columnist
Loosely based on the book series of the same name, The Darwin Awards is a wry indie film that deals with the premise that some people will live long and prosperous lives, while the weaker will weed themselves out by committing unbelievably stupid acts (such as smashing into a high-rise window to prove it’s shatterproof, or using dynamite as a means to make a small hole for ice fishing).
Equal parts weepy drama and soap opera, After the Wedding is a beautifully filmed story centering on Jacob (Mads Mikkelsen, Casino Royale), a Danish man working at a orphanage in Bombay. Just when funds have run desperately low, Jorgen (Rolf Lassgård)–a wealthy benefactor–promises to donate millions of dollars to the orphanage. But there’s a catch. Jacob must collect the funds himself in Copenhagen… and attend the wedding of the eccentric millionaire’s daughter.
Defense attorney Bobby Donnell could’ve had his pick of high-paying jobs at any number of fancy Boston law firms. Instead, he chose to be his own boss. “The Practice: Volume One” combines all six episodes from the debut mini season in 1997, along with seven episodes from the sophomore year.
Back in 1982, it was perfectly fine to refer to the 12-year-old star of “Silver Spoons” as Ricky Schroder. It wouldn’t be until his young adult years, when he went on to star in such projects as “Lonesome Dove,” “24,” and “NYPD Blue” that Schroder would try to distance himself from the sitcom that made him a household name and replace Ricky with Rick.
Blondie’s Deborah Harry has said that as a little girl, she had hoped Marilyn Monroe was her mother. The fantasy of having a celebrity parent is not lost on 15-year-old Dinky Bossetti (Winona Ryder), who is positive that the glamorous Roxy Carmichael is indeed her birth mother.
Looking over one of the unhappy children in his charge, Tripper says, “You must be the short, depressed kid we ordered.”
As the women argue about Israeli-Palestinian issues, we sense that there is imminent danger. And that suspense ultimately carries more impact than the dialogue, which is well intentioned but often misguided. Portman is gorgeous and does a fine job emoting (and crying), but this is really Laslo’s movie. Appropriately passionate and stoic, she adds dignity (and at times humor) to a film that is thought provoking, but flawed.
Not nearly as raunchy as some of the other teen exploitation films that came out around the same time, “Summer School” is a feel-good movie in which all the characters are clueless, but also kind of likable for some inexplicable reason.
Though the plot is as transparent as some of the clothes Vera Farmiga (who plays a stunning doctor) wears, the film is on par with Mark Wahlberg’s more glamorous The Italian Job: an exciting caper that doesn’t make much sense.
Deputy Police Chief Brenda Johnson may have put in a year already with the Los Angeles police department, but that doesn’t mean the transplanted Southerner fits in yet. In the second season of the TNT drama The Closer, Brenda is less a fish out of water, but she’s still not completely at home with her brash colleagues–some of whom resent her potent mixture of brains and beauty. All 15 episodes from the 2006-2007 are included in this four-disc box set.