As usual, it would seem I’m in a minority with this romantic tale of Chiyo-become-Sayuri, the peasant girl who became geisha.Set amid the backdrop of Depression Era and World War II Japan, the story takes you from Chiyo’s fishing village, peasant beginnings to the opulent, harsh and at the same time frivolous world of Gion, where Chiyo transforms into a highly trained geisha known as Sayuri, and from there into the bitterly harsh realities of…

Recently rented the DVD Casino Royale, much-touted new Bond flick.What an incredible disappointment!We’d heard Daniel Craig was the best Bond ever. Utter nonsense. He came across simply as arrogant, without much depth. Sean Connery remains for me the Best Bond Ever. Touch of arrogance which translated into cool surety, class, style, vulnerability, everything you needed of your super-hero.The screenplay felt as though it had been written by a group of adolescents working on their high…

Babel is another we felt we’d wasted our money on, and left us wondering why on earth the film had been deemed good enough to warrant a Golden Globe Award and seven (7!) Academy Award Nominations leaves me quite mystified. Plainly I’m out of step with current tastes.While I understand completely this was to be a weaving of seemingly disparate stories, another Six Degrees of Separation, if you will, I found the two messages (guns…

Rome.Wow.I have no idea how historically accurate this HBO production is. But it is wonderful eye-candy. The acting is amazing. The sets are amazing. The costumes are amazing. The story-line, plotting, pacing, character development, the whole thing is simply amazing. Love the music. Can hardly wait to finish watching Season 1 and get into Season 2. And to boot Caesar is played by one of my favourite actors, Ciaran Hines! Just loved him in Persuasion….

The film Stranger than Fiction was recommended to me by colleague and friend, Paul Lima. He had been careful to note he was not a Will Farrell fan, something we share in common, but felt this film was a complete and remarkable departure for the silly man of humour. Paul was absolutely right.Stranger than Fiction, while not dealing with a novel concept, tells the story of Mr. Harold Crick through the voice of a narrator…