Variety reviews Atonement

Atonement:

Rarely has a book sprung so vividly to life, but also worked so enthrallingly in pure movie terms, as with “Atonement,” Brit helmer Joe Wright’s smart, dazzlingly upholstered adaptation of Ian McEwan’s celebrated 2001 novel. Period yarn, largely set in 1930s and ‘40s England, about an adolescent outburst of spite that destroys two lives and crumples a third, preserves much of the tome’s metaphysical depth and all of its emotional power. And as in Wright’s “Pride & Prejudice,” Keira Knightley -- echoed by co-thesp James McAvoy --proves every bit as magnetic as the divas of those classic mellers pic consciously references.

AFI Fest 2007

Check out the AFI's "Timespine," for all the fests since 1972.

Film loses its feminine touch

The LA Times:

In an early episode of "Damages," civil suit litigator Patty Hewes is standing somewhere on Manhattan's Upper East Side having an "accidental" meeting with the attorney for the CEO she is attempting to sue for fraud. "If you could just give us a number," he insists, attempting to negotiate an out-of-court settlement. "I'm in a dog park, Ray," she says, her voice a symphony of emotions, her face, behind the retro society sunglasses, alive with irritation, exhilaration and genuine amusement. Even her shoulders radiate the complicated thrill of it all. It is a quintessential big screen moment, elevating what could have been a simply sarcastic response into a pastiche of mischief and magic.

How Hollywood fell out of love with romance

The UK Times:

How Hollywood fell out of love with romance -- What has happened to the great love stories that once enthralled film-goers?

Shine A Light Trailer

A Worst Previews - The trailer for "Shine A Light," Scorsese's film on the Rolling Stones

More on Neal Cassady (Kerouac's Dean Moriarty)

His death at age Mexico in 1968, Cassady wandered onto a deserted railroad, intending to walk fifteen miles to the next town. He fell asleep on the way, wearing only a t-shirt and jeans. It was a cold rainy night, and Cassady was found beside the tracks the next morning. He was in a coma, and died in a hospital later that day. The rumor is Cassady's last words were "Sixty-Four Thousand Nine Hundred and Twenty-Eight". This was supposedly how many railroad ties he had couted before his death. Kessey wrote a wonderful story about recieving the news of Cassady's death entitled "The Day After Superman Died"

More info HERE

TV: Ken Burns "War" on PBS

Variety:

PBS respects their elders -- War doc sheds light on 'Greatest Generation'

Days of Heaven

Striking Gold - The Criterion Collection -- New DVD of Days of Heaven

How to do things by the book

The Times on line:
Christopher Hampton and Joe Wright had a simple formula for filming the ‘unfilmable’ Atonement: don’t try to improve on it

Young Victoria news

Variety:
Duo sign on for 'Young Victoria' -- Broadbent, Richardson join royal drama