Hodge Podge 2

Death at a Funeral is a very silly British comedy with a host of well-known British actors. If you are a fan of the Masterpiece Theater-type movies, you've seen all of these actors at one time or another. The lead characters Matthew MacFadyen (Darcy in the most recent Pride and Prejudice) and Rupert Graves (The Forsyte Saga) are brothers whose father just died, and they argue about who is going to pay for it and try to manage the kooky guests that come to the funeral. It's not a great movie, but it's pretty funny at times, and it gets better as the movie goes on.

Last night I was going to go to bed at a reasonable hour when I ran across the 1958 Cat on a Hot Tin Roof with Elizabeth Taylor and Paul Newman. Somehow, I had never seen this movie before last night, and never really wanted to, but last night it hooked me in. At first I thought cheesy and overly dramatic -- I am not really a fan of Tennessee Williams plays --they seem so overwrought--but after 10 minutes or so I became so mesmerized by both Newman and Taylor that I had to watch it until the end and stayed up until 1:30 AM. If you've never seen it, it's worth a try.



Bend it Like Beckham stars Parmainder Nagra from ER who plays the adorable Jess, a girl whose Pakistani culture conflicts with her dream of playing competitive soccer. This is another good movie for girls like Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants. It's just nice to see a wholesome movie such as this one where girls are all about kickin' butt on the soccer field. The movie also stars Keira Knightly as Jess' very young boyish-looking team mate. The soccer coach and love interest is played by Jonathan Rhys-Myers, who I last saw in The Tudors, and he does his usual smoldering thing, but in this early version of him, he seemed kinda sissified (is that a word?)

Sisterhood II

The thing I like about the Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants stories is that they are not just a teenie-bopper movies where vapid girls vie for a boy while sniping at eachother. Instead the movies and books are about girls' friendships and girls discovering their talents. Of course, they are also about girls finding the cute boys too. So they are nice stories about likeable girls who, in the end, make smart decisions, and I'm glad the stories are out there for girls today. Now, should the stories be out there for old girls such as myself -- well, despite myself, I really enjoyed the first movie in the series. I like all four of the young actresses who play the lead roles: Amber Tamblyn, Joan of Arcadia, Alexis Bledel,Gilmore Girls, America Ferrera, Ugly Betty, and Blake Lively, Gossip Girl and they seem like genuine friends. The second movie, however, isn't that great of a movie -- it's meandering and shlocky, but it is still pleasant enough.