Holy Smoke opens deliriously in a magical India, saturated with light, color, sensuality. Celebrated by Neil Diamond's anthem, "Holly Holy," Ruth Baron (Kate Winslet, delivering a breathtakingly luminous performance) explores a world that encourages spiritual epiphany--and falls hard for the cartoonish guru who opens her "third eye." Back home in Australia, her hilariously dysfunctional, distinctly down-to-earth family hires hotshot deprogrammer PJ Waters! (Harvey Keitel, his dyed hair and cowboy boots telegraphing d! esperate machismo) to cure Ruth. In an isolated Outback shack, Campion's duo wrestle each other for control of their souls--and bodies, too. This duel's in deadly earnest: Ruth assaults Waters's petrified masculinity; PJ aims to strip this radiant girl of her unexamined faith.
Their wild ride--funny, brutal, erotic--toward brand-new selfhood is punctuated by indelible images: Ruth dancing in a white sari beside an emu corral; naked in the night, Ruth offering her lush body to her tormentor; lost in the desert, cross-dressed in red gown, PJ "saved" by a golden vision of Ruth as a magnificent Indian goddess. For those who love the way movies can sometimes project truth and beauty, Holy Smoke is a feast for the eyes--and for the mind. --Kathleen MurphyNorth Carolina is home to the longest continuous barbecue tradition on the North American mainland. Authoritative, spirited, and opinionated (in the best way), Holy Smoke is a passionate exploration of the lore, r! ecipes, traditions, and people who have helped shape North Carolina's signature slow-food dish.
Three barbecue devotees, John Shelton Reed, Dale Volberg Reed, and William McKinney, trace the origins of North Carolina 'cue and the emergence of the heated rivalry between Eastern and Piedmont styles. They provide detailed instructions for cooking barbecue at home, along with recipes for the traditional array of side dishes that should accompany it. The final section of the book presents some of the people who cook barbecue for a living, recording firsthand what experts say about the past and future of North Carolina barbecue.
Filled with historic and contemporary photographs showing centuries of North Carolina's "barbeculture," as the authors call it, Holy Smoke is one of a kind, offering a comprehensive exploration of the Tar Heel barbecue tradition.A new Aisling Grey, Guardian, novel from the author of The Last of the Red-Hot Vampires
Drake Vire! o, the green dragon of Aisling's dreams, is finally ready to m! ake an h onest woman of her-if she can ever get him to the altar. Being stood up cools Aisling's jets, but not her passion, which is a good thing when Drake disappears and it's up to Aisling to find him. At least her doggie demon Jim is always at her side. Just call him a Guardian's best friend.
Roman Holiday
Ma! ybe it doesn't quite live up to its sterling reputation, and m! aybe the leading man and director were slightly miscast. But who cares? Roman Holiday is the film that brought Audrey Hepburn to prominence, and the world movie audience went weak at the knees. The endlessly charming Hepburn had her first starring role in this sweet romance, playing a European princess on an official tour through Rome. Frustrated by her lack of connection to the real world, she slips away from her protective handlers and goes on a spree, aided by a tough-guy news reporter (Gregory Peck). Director William Wyler, more at home with such heavy-going, Oscar-winning classics as The Best Years of Our Lives and Ben- Hur, doesn't always keep the champagne bubbles afloat, and the Peck role would have fit Cary Grant like a silk glove. But the film is great fun, the location shooting is irresistible, and Hepburn embodies an image of chic style that would rule for the rest of the fifties. No coincidence: she won an Oscar, and so did veteran costume designer ! Edith Head. --Robert Horton
Sabrina
Audrey Hepburn is the delightful young Sabrina, the daughter of a chauffeur who is hopelessly in love with David Larrabee (William Holden), the playboy younger son in the rich Long Island household her father works for. In order to help her forget her woes, Sabrina is shipped off to cooking school in Paris. While there, she befriends a baron who provides a bit of culture--and the encouragement to snip off her childlike ponytail. Upon her return to New York, Sabrina is transformed into a sophisticated woman, and David is entranced by her. However, his older brother Linus (Humphrey Bogart) has arranged David's marriage to Elizabeth Tyson in order to seal a business merger and thus must steer David away from Sabrina. To do this, Linus takes on the task of wooing her for himself. Full of great dialogue ("A woman happy in love, she burns the soufflé; a woman unhappy in love, she forgets to turn on the oven") and wonderfu! l performances, this film is a romantic masterpiece. Also enjo! yable is the 1995 remake, starring Julia Ormond and Harrison Ford. --Jenny BrownContains:
Breakfast at Tiffany's
House of Flowers
A Diamond Guitar
A Christmas Memory
An unexpected box-office hit in the late summer of 2000, Bring It On is a smart, snappy teen comedy that bristles with good cheer (literally) and lively, down-to-earth characters. The story may be fairly predictable (who's going to win the big championship?), but director Peyton Reed and screenwriter Jessica Bendinger have fleshed out their characters with formidable strength and provided them with sharp dialogue. Dunst is a radiant comedian, projecting warmth, determination, sincerity, and a sublime airheadedness, and Union is an impressive dancer and counterpart to Dunst, matching her admirably despite her limited onscreen time.! An excellent young supporting cast rounds out the film, most ! notably Eliza Dushku (Faith of Buffy the Vampire Slayer) and Jesse Bradford (Steven Soderbergh's King of the Hill) as siblings new to Rancho Carne, who become Torrance's best friend and potential new boyfriend, respectively. All in all, a pleasantly surprising and intelligent teen movie. Don't miss the opening sequence, a hilarious send-up of all those high school cheerleading routines you had to sit through at boring pep rallies. --Mark EnglehartBring on the spirit, spunk and sass with everyone's favorite cheerleading series in the Bring It On
Collection! All four high-energy, fun Bring It On movies are here: Bring It On, starring Kirsten Dunst; the hilarious sequel Bring It On Again; the elecGet ready for more fun, attitude and excitement in this all-new comedy! When popular Britney Allen (Hayden Panettiere) moves from posh Pacific Vista to working-class Crenshaw Heights, her life goes from cheer-topia to cheer-tastrophe. Britney finds herself at odds with ! her new classmates, especially head cheerleader Camille (Solange Knowles-Smith). But when she wins a spot on the cheer squad and faces her former team in a cross-town cheer-off to star in music sensation Rihanna's upcoming video, only one team can "bring it" and earn a place in cheer history! Starring: Solange Knowles, Hayden Panettiere, Gus Carr, Marcy Rylan, Cindy Chiu, Giovonnie Samuels, Francia Raisa, Danielle Savre, Jessica Nicole Fife, Jake McDorman, Eric Bruskotter, Kiersten Warren, Rihanna Directed by: Steve RashBring It On: All or Nothing is the idealized version of what happens when a rich girl from an elite California school is forced to transfer to an urban setting for her senior year of high school. Former head cheerleader Britney (Hayden Panettiere, Ice Princess) finds herself with a quandary--does she join the new squad, or does she stick to the promise she made to her old teammates that she'll never cheer again? Given that this is the second s! equel to the Bring It On franchise, which started with ! Kirsten Dunst's 2000 flick, and that there's really no reason for this movie to exist without a match-up between Britney's old and new squads, of course she must bring her pompoms out of retirement. In between routines, she manages to land the hottest male cheerleader, Jesse (Gus Carr), and befriend Camille (Beyonce's little sis Solange Knowles-Smith), the feisty head of the squad. She even excuses Britney from practice when the latter lies and says her family pet has died: "Who am I to stand between a white girl and her dead dog?" Beyond the inclusion of a few broad stereotypes dealt for laughs, this straight-to-DVD movie doesn't dwell on any real racial issues that a spoiled white girl actually might face at a predominantly ethnic school. Unlike Dunst's film, which was mindless but well-crafted, this sequel asks nothing of its actors but to look good and leap high. Bring It On: All or Nothing has already been brought. Twice. --Jae-Ha KimBRING IT ON:CHEERTASTIC - DVD! MovieHigh-flyin' fun, hot music and no-holds-barred competition go to new heights in this all-new comedy! The feisty East Coast Jets have ruled the Cheer Camp Championships with spunk and attitude for the past few years. Now the spirited West Coast Sharks thinThe world of cheerleading crashes full-force into the world of young love ala Romeo and Juliet and West Side Story in this boy meets girl, Sharks versus Jets, cheerleading competition where the West-Coast Sharks cheerleading team takes on the reigning champion East-Coast Jets in a cheer camp championship that will culminate in a world-wide tour. Passion and attitude pervade both cheer squads and team leaders Carson (Ashley Benson) and Brooke (Cassie Scerbo) are intent on defeating one another by any means necessary. A chance encounter between Jet Penn (Michael Copon) and Shark Carson sparks a quick romance, but team rivalry and suspicion repeatedly put the two at odds with one another. When a rumbl! e between the Sharks and Jets injures a significant number of ! cheerlea ders from both teams, the rivals must either forfeit any chance of victory or find a way to work together to combine their strengths and defeat a host of significant challengers. The parallels to West Side Story are purposeful and strong, but the incessant snobbish, self-absorbed attitudes of the cheerleaders, the stereotypical actions and slang of many characters, and the surprising lack of actual cheer footage make this program unappealing and at times downright distasteful. Great music like "Get Me Bodied" by Beyoncé Get Me Bodied , "Never Stop" by Hilary Duff Never Stop, "Division" by Aly and AJ Insomniatic and "He Said, She Said" by Ashley Tisdale He Said, She Said permeates the entire show and the actual cheer footage is spectacular. Aptly rated PG 13 for language, suggestive content, and rude humor. --Tami HoriuchiChristina Milian stars as sassy cheer captain Lina Cruz, whose world is turned upside-down when her family mo! ves from the urban streets of East Los Angeles to the sunny beach town of Malibu. At her new school, Lina clashes with Avery, the ultra-competitive all-star cheer captain, while also falling for Avery’s super-cute brother, Evan. Lina’s always been able to rise to a challenge, but can she create a new all-star squad, beat Avery at the Spirit Championships, and still keep her romance with Evan? Hot music, fierce competition and high-flyin’ fun continue in this all-new movie!Like its predecessors in the Bring It On franchise, Bring It On: Fight to the Finish focuses on a perky cheerleader who's taken out of her comfort zone and ends up excelling in her new environment. This time around, the focus is on Lina Cruz (singer Christina Milian), whose family moves from East Los Angeles to Malibu. The streetwise teen makes an instant frenemy of alpha female Avery (Rachele Brooke Smith)--also a cheerleader--at her new school. Never mind that the two girls don't ! get along. There's more drama when Lina and Avery's brother Ev! an (Cody Longo) fall for each other. Though Lina describes her new classmates as living "lifestyles of the rich and annoying" and Avery refers to Lina and her Latina friends as "illegal cheermigrants," the two really aren't that different. Both live for cheerleading and are super driven when it comes to their sport of choice. The viewer gets the impression that if both girls shared the same ethnicity (or at least a similar bank account), they'd be besties at school. The Bring It On franchise was spawned by Kirsten Dunst's hit film from 2000, which clearly had better writing and acting, as well as a larger budget to work with. While films like Bring It On: Fight to the Finish aren't going to win any awards, they do have an appeal to teenage girls and/or cheerleading fans. The plot really doesn't matter so much as the cheerleading choreography and the driving music behind it. And there's plenty of both in this production. --Jae-Ha Kim
Stills from Bring it On: Fight to the Finish (Click for larger image)
 |  |  |
Enter Ray (LL Cool J) an ultra-suave player's player, who is hired to make Eva fall madly in love with him. All goes according to plan until this ! ladies' man finds himself unexpectedly falling for this beautiful lady in this hip, fresh and funny comic romp.At a time when theaters were clogged with insipid romantic comedies for a predominantly white audience, Deliver Us from Eva offered a smart and sassy alternative. It's another variation of Shakespeare's Taming of the Shrew, beginning when Ray (James Todd Smith, a.k.a. LL Cool J) accepts a $5,000 challenge to seduce Eva (Gabrielle Union), an alleged man-hater who dominates her three sisters and the men in their lives, who are desperate to be "delivered from Eva." It's a sitcom plot from start to finish, with no real surprises. What lifts Eva from its potential doldrums is the sensible negotiations that emerge between the would-be lovers, and a sharp screenplay that allows Ray and Eva to arrive at a mutual understanding that's richer and more mature than most comedies would bother to allow. By giving its characters an opportunity to sh! ow their truly attractive colors, Eva is delivered to ! us, claw s retracted, and ready for love. --Jeff ShannonHer sisters think she's a gift from heaven. Their husbands call her the sister-in-law from hell. But Eva (Gabrielle Union) is too busy being a smart, sassy, overprotective overachiever to really care what anyone thinks. That is until the guys decide the only way they will ever score any quality time with their women is to find single Eva a man. Pronto.
Enter Ray (LL Cool J) an ultra-suave player's player, who is hired to make Eva fall madly in love with him. All goes according to plan until this ladies' man finds himself unexpectedly falling for this beautiful lady in this hip, fresh and funny comic romp.At a time when theaters were clogged with insipid romantic comedies for a predominantly white audience, Deliver Us from Eva offered a smart and sassy alternative. It's another variation of Shakespeare's Taming of the Shrew, beginning when Ray (James Todd Smith, a.k.a. LL Cool J) accepts a $5,0! 00 challenge to seduce Eva (Gabrielle Union), an alleged man-hater who dominates her three sisters and the men in their lives, who are desperate to be "delivered from Eva." It's a sitcom plot from start to finish, with no real surprises. What lifts Eva from its potential doldrums is the sensible negotiations that emerge between the would-be lovers, and a sharp screenplay that allows Ray and Eva to arrive at a mutual understanding that's richer and more mature than most comedies would bother to allow. By giving its characters an opportunity to show their truly attractive colors, Eva is delivered to us, claws retracted, and ready for love. --Jeff ShannonDeliver Us From Eva Her sisters think she̢۪s a gift from heaven. Their husbands call her the sister-in-law from hell. But Eva (Gabrielle Union) is too busy being a smart, sassy, overprotective overachiever to really care what anyone thinks. That is, until the guys decide the only way they will eve! r score quality time with their women is to hire ultra-suave R! ay (LL C ool J) to make Eva fall madly in love with him. All goes according to plan until this ladies̢۪ man finds himself unexpectedly falling for this beautiful lady in this hip, fresh and funny comic romp.
Something New Kenya McQueen (Sanaa Lathan) thought she had it all: a successful career, good friends and family. There was just one thing she didn̢۪t have under control: her love life. All that changes when she meets sexy, free-spirited Brian Kelly (Simon Baker). But when her ideal man (Blair Underwood) arrives on the scene, Kenya must decide between the relationship everyone expects and the romance no one expected.
The Best Man Harper Steward (Taye Diggs) is a commitment-shy writer and the best man at the wedding of Lance (Morris Chestnut) and Mia (Monica Calhoun). Unfortunately for Harper, the timing couldn’t be worse. His new book is coming out, and it chronicles his college life with his friends in a less than perfect light. The wedding party reunites college bu! ddies Quentin (Terrence Howard), Mirch (Harold Perrineau) and love interest Jordan (Nia Long). As the celebration weekend nears, scandalous secrets begin to reveal themselves…for better or for worse.At a time when theaters were clogged with insipid romantic comedies for a predominantly white audience, Deliver Us from Eva offered a smart and sassy alternative. It's another variation of Shakespeare's Taming of the Shrew, beginning when Ray (James Todd Smith, a.k.a. LL Cool J) accepts a $5,000 challenge to seduce Eva (Gabrielle Union), an alleged man-hater who dominates her three sisters and the men in their lives, who are desperate to be "delivered from Eva." It's a sitcom plot from start to finish, with no real surprises. What lifts Eva from its potential doldrums is the sensible negotiations that emerge between the would-be lovers, and a sharp screenplay that allows Ray and Eva to arrive at a mutual understanding that's richer and more matur! e than most comedies would bother to allow. By giving its char! acters an opportunity to show their truly attractive colors, Eva is delivered to us, claws retracted, and ready for love. --Jeff Shannon The game is on and the rules are out as Jamie Foxx, Morris Chestnut, Jennifer Esposito and Gabrielle Union star in this outrageous comedy that rewrites the book of loveJamie Foxx proves a winning romantic lead in the surprisingly subtle Breakin' All the Rules. When Quincy (Foxx, Ali, Collateral) gets brutally dumped by his fiancee, he researches the psychology of firing employees to create a break-up guide--a guide to a kinder, gentler break-up. His cousin Evan (Morris Chestnut, The Brothers) is afraid that his girlfriend is going to dump him, so he asks for Quincy's help, setting in motion a web of mistaken identities that snares Evan's girlfriend Nicky (Gabrielle Union, Bring It On), Quincy's boss Philip (a wonderfully squirmy Peter MacNicol), and a blithe gold digger named Rita (Jennifer Esposit! o, Dracula 2000). Writer/director Daniel Taplitz gives his characters, if not three dimensions, then two and a half--comedy comes out of their personalities instead of lame gags. Add in some unpredictable plot twists, genuine chemistry between Foxx and Union, and the result is genuinely fun. --Bret FetzerAt a time when theaters were clogged with insipid romantic comedies for a predominantly white audience, Deliver Us from Eva offered a smart and sassy alternative. It's another variation of Shakespeare's Taming of the Shrew, beginning when Ray (James Todd Smith, a.k.a. LL Cool J) accepts a $5,000 challenge to seduce Eva (Gabrielle Union), an alleged man-hater who dominates her three sisters and the men in their lives, who are desperate to be "delivered from Eva." It's a sitcom plot from start to finish, with no real surprises. What lifts Eva from its potential doldrums is the sensible negotiations that emerge between the would-be lo! vers, and a sharp screenplay that allows Ray and Eva to arriv! e at a m utual understanding that's richer and more mature than most comedies would bother to allow. By giving its characters an opportunity to show their truly attractive colors, Eva is delivered to us, claws retracted, and ready for love. --Jeff ShannonFrom the playground to the pro leagues, Monica and Quincy taught each other how to play the game. Now, their commitment to the sport will force them to make a choice between each other and the game...between family and team...between Love and Basketball.Gina Prince-Bythewood, a former college athlete, puts a spin on this one-on-one tale of Love and Basketball. Sanaa Lathan (The Best Man) is the fiercely driven, hot-tempered Monica, a tomboy who gives her all for basketball. Omar Epps (The Mod Squad) is Quincy, an NBA player's son who has pro dreams of his own. Next-door neighbors since first grade, they start as rivals (she flabbergasts the boy by outplaying him in a game of driveway pickup) a! nd age into best friends and lovers. The romantic complications follow a familiar game plan, but the film throws a fascinating spotlight onto the contrast between men's and women's basketball. While Quincy plays college ball on huge courts to cheering, sold-out crowds, we see Monica's sweat, tears, and sheer physical dedication in front of tiny audiences in small gyms and second-rate auditoriums.
The story is pointedly set in the late 1980s, years before the establishment of the WNBA, so Monica's prospects for pro ball lie exclusively in Europe, while Quincy steps into the pros at home. It's a pleasure to see a character as passionate and fully developed as Monica, and Lathan gives a fiery portrayal (she had never played ball before the film, but you'd never tell from her performance). Prince-Bythewood favors her struggle over Quincy's and opens our eyes to her unique challenges with a sharp, savvy contrast. Alfre Woodard costars as Monica's harping mom (always trying to! get her to be more ladylike) and Dennis Haysbert is Quincy's ! philande ring father. Hoops fan Spike Lee produced. --Sean Axmaker
9:09 PM
Blog Fasion
