Farrar, Straus and Giroux. (2009). 208 pages. By C.E. Morgan.
A finely written novel that portrays the deepest connections of love, land, grief, friendship, marriage, and faith. The author deftly and accurately renders the language and culture of those who tend the land. Theological and pastoral insights are subtly woven into the narrative. An extraordinary story by a skilled young writer.
You know all those movies where immediately upon death, there’s a really bright light, and you get to go to a place that’s colorful and fantastic, with phenomenal visuals?
If you’re looking at movie choices that seem so deadly serious (“The Hurt Locker”) or take themselves so seriously (“Avatar”) or are serious downers (“Precious”), and you’re looking for something lighthearted and mindless, maybe some adult humor without descending into a raunchfest (“The Hot Tub Time Machine”), then “The Bounty Hunter” might be for you.
Hiccup (the voice of Jay Baruchel) is a bright, skinny, sensitive little Viking lad who just doesn’t seem to fit in with the big, burly, warrior clan where his father, Stoick (the voice of Gerard Butler) is the chief.
Tim Burton’s treatment of “Alice In Wonderland” is just as whimsical as you’d expect, with his trademark dark humor accompanying it, and with the CGI (computer-generated imagery) of Wonderland thrown with 3-D, it’s a feast for the eyes, as well.
“The White Ribbon” is released in the U.S. already having received a Golden Globe nomination for best Foreign Film. It’s a tormented, tormenting kind of movie that will likely struggle to find an audience here, except among the most adventurous of moviegoers.
What happens when you have a furious argument with your spouse of long standing, leave in a huff to a destination intentionally unknown, and then you die there? Ah, love.
You know how it is in Hollywood — somebody finds a successful formula, and everyone else imitates it (come to think of it, that applies to a lot of other things, also, but I digress).
“Crazy Heart” is a film that we feel like we’ve seen before, but the performances of the primary characters are significant enough to pay attention, anyway.
It’s an old story, but here it’s told so piecemeal that we almost don’t recognize it: rich executive Ernesto Martel (Jose Luis Gomez) falls in love with his beautiful administrative assistant, Lena (Penelope Cruz).
