Journalist, Author & Syndicated Columnist
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.
In the “Secret Life of Words,” a wounded man and a hearing impaired woman forge an unlikely relationship that transcends romance. They reach an understanding that speaks as much for the affection they hold for one another, as it does their need to simply be recognized.
Columnist Carolyn Hax breaks it down as to why your stay-at-home mom friends may be just a tad too busy to cater to your every need. Excellent column from a great writer.
Equal parts “Roswell” and “The O.C.,” “Kyle XY” starts off as a sci-fi mystery, veers off into a teenage soap opera and ends its 10-episode first season with a compelling cliffhanger. The series, which debuted in 2006 on the ABC Family channel, begins with a teenager wandering in the woods just outside of Seattle. When the authorities find him, he is naked, unable to communicate, and devoid of a belly button.
Paying homage to both “The Road Warrior” and “The Lost Boys,” “Solarbabies” is set in a futuristic world where water is scarce, children are locked away in orphanages, and a glowing ball of frenetic energy has the power to make dreams a reality.
A light-hearted comedy revolving around a pair of bickering brothers who run a small airline in Nantucket, “Wings” kicks off its fourth season with a crash. Literally. But unlike “Lost” where the passengers are never sure if they’ll ever be rescued, it’s inevitable that the Nantucket bunch is saved.
When three generations of women collide, it isn’t always pretty. In “Georgia Rule,” Lindsay Lohan stars as Rachel, a wild child whose mother Lilly (Felicity Huffman) ships her off to Idaho to be tamed by Georgia (Jane Fonda)–Lilly’s own cantankerous mom.
Oddly enough, the audition tape of Jennifer Hudson, who won an Academy Award for her breakthrough role as Effie, is nowhere to be seen. Sure, we all know what a powerhouse she is today. But it would’ve been nice to see what the filmmakers saw in her back then, when her competition included her “American Idol” castmate (and that season’s winner) Fantasia Barrino.
An over-the-top film co-starring a young and gorgeous Susan Sarandon, “The Other Side of Midnight” is a deliciously melodramatic adaptation of Sidney Sheldon’s sweeping (and often schlocky) novel of the same name.
When entrepreneur Irving “Bud” Levin started the San Francisco International Film Festival in 1957, his intention was to compete with the prestigious festivals already thriving in Berlin, Cannes, Edinburgh and Venice and to establish the U.S. as a viable member of the international film-festival circuit. Today, as its 50th anniversary edition begins (the event runs through May 10), it’s clear that America’s oldest film festival, which features 25 juried awards and is presented by the San Francisco Film Society, has established a venerable presence on the North American circuit — even though it might not necessarily have eclipsed, say, the Sundance Film Festival just yet.
With two solid seasons already banked, NCIS returns for a compelling third year with exciting plotlines and a slightly tweaked cast. The show’s second season ended with the brutal and shocking death of Caitlin Todd (Sasha Alexander). The first two episodes of this season deal with the aftermath of bringing her killer to justice and examining the emotional impact of her loss on the remaining members of the NCIS team, which is led by Jethro Gibbs (Mark Harmon).
All 13 episodes of this NBC series–which aired during the 2006-2007 season–are included on this three-disc DVD set. And unlike many shows that are canceled within a year, “Kidnapped” offers viewers closure and a finite ending. While the first few episodes dealing with the kidnapping are gripping, the show layers on some subplots that fail. Is Ellie having an affair with a prominent politician? Did Conrad kill his ex-mistress? Neither character is particularly likeable, so the viewer doesn’t really care.