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Your Week — Daily event picks
The Pawnbroker
In accepting an honorary Oscar in 2005, the director, Sidney Lumet, admitted he "stole" ideas from other directors. With this anguished character study of a Holocaust survivor it's pretty obvious to me he's appropriated, both stylistically and thematically, much from Alain Resnais--an attempt to shove his way into avant-garde circles. Longtime readers of Mr. Shepherd know Resnais is a favorite director, so it's no surprise the film did not go over well with him.— December 26, 2008 2:23 p.m.
Legally Blonde
A chirpy Bel Air sorority president (Reese Witherspoon) applies for Harvard Law School with the intention of winning back an ex-boyfriend in the comedy confection Legally Blonde. Once accepted ("What, like it's hard?"), she lands on campus, pet Chihuahua in tow, only to discover it's not quite what she expected. Shunned, everyone is, like, totally mean to her. Then too her first class does not go well when, unprepared, she's asked to leave (cf. The Paper Chase). Our blond Barbie, however, isn't one to shrink in the face of adversity. While occasionally amusing, this "empowerment myth" is awfully hard to swallow, although you're free to try. Given the possibility that a first-year law student could assume the role of an attorney in a bona fide criminal trial, are we also to believe, for example, open seating would exist at such a venue? Given what we know about high-profile celebrity trials? What are the odds?— November 16, 2008 3:59 p.m.
Titanic
Glub glub, James Cameron's unsinkable opus, the 1997 Best Picture Oscar winner and highest-grossing film of all time, is a waterlogged white elephant, a trite Romeo and Juliet-like story awash in cliché. Titanic stars Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet as doomed lovers, she from first class and engaged to someone she doesn't love (Billy Zane), he from steerage. I found myself growing weary ("Hit the iceberg already"), perked up only by a hint of nudity as he's a sketch artist and she agrees to pose nude, but fans of the film are legion. Over one hour shorter, and more admirable to boot, is a 1958 British version, A Night to Remember.— November 1, 2008 4:52 p.m.