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OH, Colin what on earth made you decide to be in this dismally, violent, awful film?
We watched it only to say we did! Possibly it is supposed to be a parody of James Bond and Dr. Strangelove, however, it really didn't work.
If the "F" word and violence are not your cup of tea, well, avoid this one!
Book collecting is an obsession, an occupation, a disease, an addiction, a fascination, an absurdity, a fate. It is not a hobby. Those who do it must do it.
Jeanette Winterson
Happy birthday, Jeanette Winterson! Before the award-winning English writer became famous for books like Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit, she wanted to be a Pentecostal Christian Missionary. She started writing sermons at age six.
Wonder if she has secretly been in my home?
Starring Timothy Spall, an actor we have enjoyed in previous movies and BBC television productions.
This film was interesting, however very difficult to watch.
Timothy gave a compelling performance as a very unusual artist. There is no arguing about Turner's genius as an artist, however, as a human being well that's another subject.
Consider this for a moment - one day you wake up and discover that you are NOT you have always thought you were. What exactly would you do?
And so The Other Son poses this question.
Joseph has taken the required DNA test to become a soldier in the Israeli military - only problem is that his blood type does NOT match that of either his mother or father. After tracing back 18 years to the night of his birth, his parents are told that a nurse at the hospital mistakenly switched two babies (during night bombing in the West Bank). Yacine, the other baby, has been brought up in the Palestinian section of Tel Aviv, and has just completed the first portion of medical school in Paris.
Naturally, both sets of parents are distraught - the mothers simply want to hold their true sons, the fathers and Yacine's Palestinian brother have entirely different views of this devastating news.
We watched this story unfold - the filming in both Tel Aviv, proper, and the Palestinian section, show the major differences of how each side lives. This was one of the most compelling films from the Middle East that we have seen - it was hard to watch knowing the pain that was caused by a mistake, yet it was hard to not watch - it was hard to watch seeing how the two sides distrust and "hate" each other, yet it was impossible not to watch how these two families overcame their differences to accept the truth about "the other son".
I would certainly recommend this film to everyone who is interested in current world history.
When will you learn that there isn't a word for everything?
Nicole Krauss
Happy birthday, Nicole Krauss! After studying writing at Stanford and Oxford, Nicole Krauss published her first book, Man Walks Into a Room, in 2002. The novel was critically acclaimed and movie rights have since been optioned by Richard Gere.
Photo and Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer.
Woman in Gold ----- film directed by Simon Curtis ----- based on the true story of Maria Altmann, an Austrian Jew who left her homeland behind when the Nazis invaded her country - moved to America and vowed to never return to Austria. In her later years, Maria discovers letters (after her sister has passed away) that the family had tried to recover artwork stolen by the Nazis and is now "owned" by the Austrian museum. One piece that has "treasured" meaning to Maria is the one done by Gustav Klimt of her beloved aunt Adele Bloch-Bauer "The Woman in Gold".
Klimt used gold leaf to paint this incredible portrait - if you look at the above photo and then at the painting you will be able to see the likeness.
Helen Mirren portrays Maria Altmann, Ryan Reynolds portrays Randy Schoenberg - Maria's American lawyer.
Maria and Randy take her fight, to recover the stolen "Woman in Gold", all the way to the United States Supreme Court, which ruled in the case "Republic of Austria v. Altmann" (2004) - by the way Maria and Randy won their case before the justices! And Justice proves that sometimes that BIGGER isn't always BETTER!
We started watching this film really late in the evening, however, it is so compelling and heartfelt that we couldn't stop until the end!
Well worth a couple of hours of your time, even just for the sake of history!
The library is inhabited by spirits that come out of the pages at night.
Isabel Allende
Happy birthday, Isabel Allende! The Chilean-American writer has been called "the world's most widely read Spanish-language author," and in 2004, President Barack Obama recognized her inspiring body of work with the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
