Journalist, Author & Syndicated Columnist
A love story spanning more than five decades, “Closing the Ring” may appeal to fans of “The Notebook.” Academy Award-winning director Richard Attenborough utilizes shifting time frames to tell the story of Ethel Ann and WWII fighter pilot Teddy. The two fall madly in love and secretly marry in a sweet ceremony that is destined for tragedy.
There are many aspects to Kevin Bacon. There’s the actor (“Frost/Nixon,” “The Woodsman,” “Apollo 13,” “Footloose”), the director (“Loverboy,” his wife Kyra Sedgwick’s series “The Closer”), the producer (“Wild Things”) and cultural icon (Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon). And then there’s his music. With his older brother Michael, Kevin has been touring for the past 14 years as part of the blues-tinged folk band the Bacon Brothers. “I can’t spend as much time touring as I’d like because of my other job,” says Bacon, 50.
A thoroughly entertaining series that lasted just one season, “Moonlight” tells the story of a sexy vampire who wants to do good. (Think along the lines of Angel from the Joss Whedon series of the same name.) Mick (Alex O’Loughlin) became a vampire in the 1950s when his beautiful vamp bride Coraline (Shannyn Sossamon) created his new incarnation.
It’s been drilled into our heads that the best way to get a cheap airline ticket is to buy it well in advance of your travel date. But parents adopting children from overseas often have no idea when that date might be. And once their adoption agency gives them the go-ahead to bring home their child, they typically have only a matter of days to make all the arrangements.
“Another Cinderella Story” adds a few modern day twists to the classic fairy tale on which it is based, and it aims straight for the hearts of 21st century tweens. Selena Gomez (“Wizards of Waverly Place”) plays Mary, a shy high-school student saddled with a wicked guardian and a pair of mean girls stepsisters.
In the first season of “‘Til Death,” a good chunk of the episodes centered on the grizzled married couple eying their affectionate newlywed neighbors with both jealousy and pity. In the followup year, Eddie and Joy Stark (Brad Garrett, Joely Fisher) have accepted Jeff and Steph Woodcock (Eddie Kaye Thomas, Kat Foster) not only as their neighbors, but also as friends (though sometimes begrudgingly).
You can’t talk about progressive rock without mentioning the band Yes. Yes is progressive rock. The band, formed in 1968, and known for hits such as “Owner of a Lonely Heart,” “Roundabout” and “I’ve Seen All Good People,” has sold more than 30 million albums worldwide and enjoys touring and meeting their fans. Chris Squire, who founded the group with Jon Anderson, says it never ceases to amaze him how many fans show up to support them.
A fast-paced, beautifully executed film, “The Rebel” works hard at being an epic martial arts picture set in 1920’s French-occupied Vietnam. While that may sound like a bit much, director Truc Charlie Nguyen does a formidable job creating a plausible scenario with some awesome fighting sequences.