Jane Campion's "Bright Star" Comes To Theaters

More than 15 years after directing "The Piano," the Oscar winning writer Jane Campion is back in top creative form with a chaste love story in "Bright Star," to be limited release today, only at San Francisco bay area theaters.
Initially, "Bright Star" appears to be adapted from the best book Jane Austen never wrote. But it’s an original work, based on the three-year real-life love affair between 19th-century English romantic poet John Keats(Britain's Ben Whishaw) who believes in "the holiness of the heart's affections" and the love of his life, Fanny Brawne(Australia's Abbie Cornish), the exuberant girl next door, whose deep, passionate affair never gets beyond hand-holding and stolen kisses, before the poet died from tuberculosis at age 25. Both make this chaste relationship burn like fire.
More admirable than emotionally affecting with its gorgeously framed shots and superb craftsmanship, "Bright Star" is a thing of beauty, beautiful in the rarest of ways. The heartwrenching emotion in this movie was unlike any other. Passions that are too formidable to control, and too dangerous to let loose -- these are the themes that drive Jane Campion's work. She went far beyond the usual "I am deeply in love; Now I am sad" and truly captured human idiosyncrasy as she delved into the illogical, irrational minds of two young and suddenly in love individuals. This film perfectly embodied how a simple, real, profound story should be told.
In the sensual and womanly-wise period drama "Bright Star" is the most generic historical romance ever put to film, or at least it feels like it. The movie is an ode to poetry and love, and indeed lyrical, in the best sense. The New Zealand-born filmmaker has performed her own feat of romantic imagination, and her beautiful high-strung romance "Bright Star" has a rhythm all its own, and unequivocally celebrates the joys of poetry. It may not be a joy forever, but it will do until the next joy comes along.

“Duplicity” (DVD) Hits Store Shelves Today

Following up his acclaimed legal thriller "Michael Clayton" and "Bourne" movies, writer/director Tony Gilroy takes a vacation with the deceptively lightweight "Duplicity," is supposedly one of the smartest screenwriters we've got. The film was released on March 20, and it's DVD/Blu-ray with featuring commentary will be available today.
The allure of this romance caper, Oscar winner Julia Roberts and Clive Owen star as two sexy spies-turned-corporate operatives in the midst of a clandestine love affair. When they find themselves on either side of an all-out corporate war between rival manufacturers, they'll put everything on the line to remain one double-cross ahead in a high stakes game of cat-and-mouse.
Carol Hemphill & Kent Tentschert Merriam-Webster defines the word, "duplicity," as "contradictory doubleness of thought, speech, or action," and Gilroy must love these contradictions. The ways in which the paranoid pair interact are complicated, and any clear description would introduce spoilers. Suffice it to say that this witty thriller-cum-romance explores the seductive power of the almighty dollar. It’s that great Julia and Owen chemistry dancing through Gilroy’s clever dialogue that makes this a crowd-pleaser.
"Duplicity" is well-crafted, smart, and often funny, but it’s mostly more cerebral than visceral and features far too many plot twists. As silly as the convoluted plot turns out to be, the movie is about the journey, not the destination. All moves, countermoves and double crosses keep you guessing until the finale.

"The Time Traveler's Wife" Opens In Theaters

Fall in love again? The gifted Rachel McAdams melted our hearts in "The Notebook" and "Wedding Crashers" returns for this summer's biggest remantic movie, and tries to keep Eric Bana’s heart in "The Time Traveler’s Wife," which coming out today in local theaters near you.
"The Time Traveler’s Wife," a romantic drama with Sci-Fi twist, is directed by Robert Schwentke of "Flightplan" and adapted by Bruce Joel Rubin of "Ghost", based on the 2003 best-seller novel by Audrey Niffenegger, about a Chicago librarian Henry (Bana) who has a genetic disorder that causes him unable to control his abiliy to vault through time, and the impact that has on his marriage with a young heiress Claire (McAdams), a long-suffering woman who can't stay away from him. Basically this is a glad-to-be-sad romance of two people who can’t bring themselves to part but can never really be together.
It's never easy to compare movies from different times and genres. All time travel stories have one thing in common, they require a total suspension of disbelief. If you start thinking about the lapses in logic, everything falls apart. Time travel serves as a metaphor for love, absence, aging and death, but once you see it on screen, it becomes real. This adaptation of the 2003 bestseller is meant to be supremely romantic, but why does this love go so bad? Only time will tell. Timing is everything, especially when it comes to love. "The Time Traveler's Wife" takes this expression quite literally. The film is a tale of highly-praised reality-bending romance, but early reviews of the film show an uphill battle since it doesn't fulfill its destiny. One thing for sure is it seems no question that tears will flow and hankies will suffer terribly. This dramatic fantasy film has held up well, and is honest assessment of how difficult and magical a true and lasting love can be.

"I Love You, Man" Leads Today's DVD Releases

One of the funniest movies of the decade, and the hilarious and unforgettable bro-mantic comedy hit “I Love You, Man” is finally making an appearance on DVD starting today!
“I Love You, Man” is a comedy from director John Hamburg and starring Paul Rudd and Jason Segel as two completely different guys who form an unlikely friendship in this start-to-finish laugh marathon about a lovable, yet awkward, groom to-be Peter Klaven(Rudd) goes on a series of man-dates to find a best man for his wedding. But when his insta-bond with his new man, Sydney Fife (Segal) puts a strain on his relationship with his fiancée, can the trio learn to live happily ever after? Are you man enough to say it?
Sometimes, a comedy doesn't have to be laugh-out-loud hysterical to be a good comedy. Not necessarily great for anything but the jokes, which in most cases are enough. "I Love You, Man" is a bromance in its truest form, filled with outrageous humor, and surprisingly enough. The film is an hugely enjoyable comical and heartwarming story in that it paints an entertaining and humorous portrait of friendship and capitalizes on the strengths of a talented cast. The movie works because everything hinges on the camaraderie and undeniable chemistry between Rudd and Segel, who give a startlingly funny and original performance. Paul Rudd is one of those guys who could stand there and read a phone book, and we would laugh. Without question, "I Love You, Man" is one of the funniest (and oddest) things in the comedy this year.

"Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince" Opens In Theaters

“Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince”('Harry Potter 6') is the 6th fantasy-adventure film series based on J.K. Rowling’s books, opens in more than 4,200 U.S. and Canadian theaters today at 12:01 a.m., and may take in $155 million in its first five days, estimates Jeff Hartke, an analyst at Los Angeles-based Hollywood Stock Exchange, which forecasts film performance.

The 6th movie was originally scheduled to open last November, but was pushed into this summer to fill in the gap left by last year’s Writers’ Guild strike. That created a two-year space between films that has been the longest of the series. Unlike the books, “Half-Blood Prince” is not the next-to-last movie. For the final installment, “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows,” the filmmakers are going back to their old idea and splitting the massive book into two movies coming in 2010 and 2011. Interestingly, after two PG-13 movies, “Prince” is rated PG, but from the looks of the new trailer, it stands to be as action-packed and emotional as any of the previous films.

As Harry Potter begins his 6th year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, he discovers an old book marked mysteriously "This book is the property of the Half-Blood Prince" and begins to learn more about Lord Voldemort's dark past. Voldemort is tightening his grip on both the Muggle and wizarding worlds and Hogwarts is no longer the safe haven it once was.

How Crazy Are Harry Potter Fans? Do you really need me to answer that question? Do you still remember the 1st film in 2001? Actually, the Harry Potter books might have ended two years ago, but as the Harry Potter Alliance illustrates, its rabid fans aren't going anywhere... I'll say that 'Harry Potter 6' is possibly one of the only, if not the only, movie in the series that stays true to the novel on which it is based.