HOLIDAY GREETINGS; HANDMADE CARDS ARE DELIGHTFULLY PERSONAL DELIVERIES
A holiday card is a kind of Rorschach test or even a DNA fingerprint. Even nowadays when most people opt for the mass production route, they seek out greetings which appeal to their mood and aesthetics. The recipient who takes the time to savor every holiday missive can almost glimpse…
“BEFORE NIGHT FALLS” CATCHES PASSION OF POET ARENAS’ LIFE
Julian Schnabel’s “Before Night Falls” comes to the Bay Area dragging behind it a string of awards like jangling tin cups after a matrimonial car. These accolades are posthumous for Reinaldo Arenas, the gay Cuban poet and novelist and the brilliant subject upon whom Schnabel’s sophomore film is based. In…
PEOPLE
Press group announces nominees for Globe prizes The first awards show heavy-hitter, the Golden Globes, has announced its nominees, and what a motley crew. Vying for best dramatic movie are “Gladiator,” “Erin Brockovich,” “Billy Elliot,” “Sunshine,” “Wonder Boys” and “Traffic,” which comes out in Bay Area theaters today. In the…
BULLOCK’S CHARM SAVES TWO-FACED “CONGENIALITY”
Deep breath, girls, and smile. Come, my dears, buck up. After all, apres a grueling shopping day, all we want to do is to put aside our lists, sink down with a box of Whoppers and shut down the neurons for some mindless escapism. Why not let the prattling, lip-gloss…
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Bullock goes uninjured after plane crash-lands Actress Sandra Bullock escaped injury when a jet she was riding in missed the runway and crashed at a Jackson Hole, Wyo., airport early Wednesday. Bullock was one of four people, including two crew members, aboard the twin-engine Hawker corporate jet owned by RR…
BUYING THE ELECTION; THE RESULTS MAY BE IN, BUT COLLECTORS KEEP COUNTING
Election Day 2000 became Election Month 2000. Despite the political drama, American did not panic, riot or burn figures in effigy. No, it was business as usual, which meant Americans did what Americans do best: capitalize, merchandise and advertise. While history was in the making, the opportunists were making a…
MEL’S “WHAT WOMEN WANT”; SKIP THE TRAILERS AND SEE THE FLICK, WHICH SHOWS, AMONG OTHER THINGS, THAT AT LEAST ONE TOUGH GUY DOES DANCE
If our cynical, wisecracking age can withstand it, “What Women Want” is one of the best arguments for the return of the musical. Mel Gibson’s newest comic venture is straight out of pre-1965 Hollywood cinema. As Nick Marshall, the grown-up son of a Las Vegas showgirl (or showwoman, as the…
THIS ATYPICAL DISNEY FILM A FAMILY TREAT
Family movies seem awfully scarce at theaters this holiday season, much less family holiday movies. Little wonder the “Grinch” has dominated the box office for the last few weeks and cleared up the karmic slush left behind two years back by “Jack Frost.” Now Disney has tossed “The Emperor’s New…
MEMO TO FILMMAKERS: JOIN US IN 21ST CENTURY
WHEN WAS YOUR personal-technology film/TV epiphany moment? (I really want to know. Read to the end of the column on how to contribute.) I finally got around to watching “Fight Club” recently. You might remember that one, with Brad Pitt and Edward Norton as young men feeling disenfranchised by commercialism….
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Carrey may be a Grinch after losing Zellweger Jim Carrey’s success-love balance is off kilter again. While his latest movie “Dr. Seuss’ How the Grinch Stole Christmas” reaches the $195 million point in box office receipts and guarantees him royalties for life, Carrey is minus one girlfriend. As of a…