Fantastic Flicks

Interview With The Vampire (Tom Cruise, Brad Pitt): that amazingly rare thing, a film that surpasses the novel upon which it's based. Tom Cruise is incandescent; he might have been lauded as Jerry Maguire, but I think this is his best role to date. The whole film is beautifully shot; even the murder scenes are lyrical, reflecting Lestat's view that all things "hold some fascination."
The Princess Bride (Carey Elwes, Mandy Patinkin): a fairytale with giants, dashing swordsmen and evil princes may sound like a children's story, but this film is dryly funny, exciting and genuinely touching. I have seen this far too many times, and I love it to bits.

Strictly Ballroom (Paul Mercurio): a brilliant Australian film from the director of Romeo + Juliet. A wickedly funny insight into the world of ballroom dancing, it's also a wonderfully romantic story. Cuddle up on the sofa with a box of chocolates when it's cold outside and you want a bit of sunshine.

Witness (Harrison Ford): Who needs sex scenes when you've got a film that sizzles with passion even though there's only one kiss in the whole flick? Harrison Ford shows there's more to him than Indiana Jones, and the whole thing rushes along with the understated beauty of a stream.

Just seen:

O Brother, Where Art Thou? (George Clooney): Clooney's best role to date in a fabulous, funny, endlessly inventive film from the talented Coen Brothers (Fargo). It's a jailbreak film set in the '30s, but it's very loosely based on The Odyssey, with Clooney playing Ulysses. Go see now.

Book Reviews

Reading is my passion. I have a ridiculous number of books, now standing at two bookcases full and several piled up at the side. There's no way I could have a favourite book, but here are a few old favourites and a couple I've recently read.

Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte: This was the first "adult" book I read. I was completely absorbed, and picking this up is like meeting an old friend. Bronte's novel sings with restrained passion, gothic fantasy juxtaposed with detailed realism, and the characters are wonderfully drawn. I think that all the films that have been made of this novel so far have been deeply disappointing. Read this first.

Little Dorrit by Charles Dickens: the man was a genius, and possibly the writer I most respect. He manages to make characters that are both hysterically funny and yet utterly realistic, his social comment is astute and still relevant, and his descriptions of London are unsurpassed. Ignore the plot; it gets in the way!

October Sky by Homer H. Hickam: a fictionalised account of his childhood, this is both a wonderful rites-of-passage story and a study of small town life and the conflicts between generations.

Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden: an intriguing look at a secret world, golden sweeps one up into his created world with gently lyrical writing.

Just read:

Stoneghenge by Bernard Cornwall: this is a great, big, juicy slab of a book. It's basically all conjecture as no one knows how Stonehenge was built, but the story has a good pace, the characters are realistic, and cornwall provides a good possible theory as to how and why the great stone circle was raised.