this is woddy allen's best movie; and before i hear cries of protest from the "Annie Hall" and "Manhattan" fans, allow me to explain myself.

this movie is the perfect blend of his physical comedy (the silent bottle scene) and his quick witted, rapid-response dialogue ("Let's assaginate Neapoleon" "Yeah, okay, it's getting a little late sweetheart, you wanna start knitting dinner?"). The "War and Peace" paradoy also makes for great comedy, complete with the Esienstein soundtrack to the classic Soviet propaganda film "Alexander Nevsky".

Allen and Diane Keaton are at their best in this movie, i think because they're not pontificating the great love-releationship dilemma they they also perform brilliantly in "Annie Hall" and "Manhattan", they're just having a lot of fun!

the scenes where Frances O'Connor is walking back and forth across campus from department to department, trying to get her transfer slip signed by the appropriate people in the appropriate sequence is still so funny in it's realism i laugh every time. instead of gaining 10 pounds as a freshman i lost 30 because of all the leg-work college demands in their paper work.

add into the mix of this wonderfully enjoyable movie are the searches for true love (always good for a laugh), hiding from thesis supervisors, and trying to find suitable living conditions. Matt Day is great, as always, in his role as the campus geek who's got a crush on the coffee-shop girl, talking to himself in the mirror "be confident, i'm confident, i'm oozing confidence, confidence coming out of every pore...."

a great movie to watch with your old college buddies!

like fellow reviewer Joshua Gaines, i bought this book for a class (minored in Russian History), and again i agree that this book is more than a standard history text book.

point-by-point the motivation for the establishment of the Soviet Union is outlined with complete objectivity and very little 20-20 hindsight criticism. Kort explores every facet of the transition from complete autocracy to socialist society with great detail throughout every era from Stalin's failed 5-year plans to Gorbachev's perestroika which actually ended the existance of the USSR.

even for the casual history buff this is a great guide and insightful read.

this is a great story that is completely character-driven. At the dawn of the Nazi invasion of Austria you have the beautiful Carly who is in love with Nick, a jew. Though Carly is saught after by the evil Baron Fritz, who uses the vulenerable Der Chinezer as his lacky, the play of passions ensues. Carly marries the Baron in exchange for Nick's escape to America, and Der Chinezer is taken deeper into the fold of the Nazi Party.

This book is like watching a really great movie; there are an array of plots and well developed secondary characters, two settings (Hollywood and occupied Austria) and the suspense of any war drama.
read this book, it's great for a cold winter's day!

This is one of the best books i have ever read!

the racial issue between a black man's perception of his white mother is presented equally with the outpouring of love and respect he has for her; simply as a mother of 12 children in Harlem who put all her children through collge and grad school. the stories about trips to church, to camp, riding public tansport, getting homemade haircuts, and how awful a cook his mother was are universal and are presented evenly with the tender moments of love and respect and joy he has with his mother.

the other half of this book is his mother's autobiography; the story of a young polish Jewish immigrant living in Jim Crow Virginia, abused by her father. the thinly veiled pain and anguish of memory that McBride's mother reveals futher illuminates his respect for his mother in his own chapters as he describes his mother founding a Baptist church in Harlem with his father.

this book is a gift to mothers everywhere!

Hollywood is a place i have always dreamed about and have NEVER wanted to visit, and this book only solidifies my conviction.
what's great about it is that all of our present day sandals-- OJ, Michael Jackson, J-Lo, the list goes on-- seem like small potatoes compared to the movers and shakers of the Golden Age of Cinema. Drug overdoeses, sex, violence, police corruption, and hintings of the underworld ran rampant and Anger's prose in the style of a tabloid is so engaging i couldn't put this book down!

and i'm not ashamed to admit that the pictures (which were helpful in stories regarding actors i had never heard of before) add to the narrative in surreal and funny ways *** check out the picture of Jayne Mansfield's dead dog at the end!

a fun and quick read for the summer!

i read this book in a single night mostly because, as the novel explores people's attachment to entertainment, this books was WAY better than anything on TV!
a little violent at times, there are many plot twists which are funny and sometimes scarry in their accuracy of how the media is attracted to, and portray's violence, for the public.
the ending was a wee bit predictable but enjoyable all the same with a healthy mix of critical satire and humor.
definately worht catching!

through my endeavors i've had to read Hamlet 7 times (twice my senior year of high-school). much as i don't like Shakespeare this play is part of my life.

The Olivier version is more accurate to the stage version but the camera techiniques are over-blown and hokey (circling the swords before the duel to see which one is tipped, it made me dizzy). the Branagh version, while creative in it's set up (modernizing it to imerial Russia), and using the entire text, complete with Prince Fortinbras of Norway, is SO long and SO over-acted (especially on the part of Branagh) that i needed a nap after i saw it. and i choose not even to dignify the Ethan Hawke version it was so terrible.

This one is my favorite, all the scenes which are cut aren't necessary for the forwarding of the plot in my humble opinion (the opening scene with the palace guards meeting the dead kingis cut yet horatio's explaination of this happening later in the movie is sufficient). Gibson chooses to play Hamlet as insane (that decision is left to the director) and as i am in the camp that Hamlet IS insane, you could also see why i favor this version. Glenn Close is EXCELLENT as Gertrude as is Helena Bonham-Carter as Ophelia.

solid performances with a great cast, what more does a 400 year old play need?

do worry if you can't speak Urdu (i certainly can't!) but this music is fantastic-- modern guitars and mixing along with Arab beats.

what's great about this album is that you don't HAVE to understand what it's all about, you just feel it, music transcends understanding (and with all the sex-kitten pop out there right now rock is a dying genre).

i can't help but roll down the windows of my car and sing at the top of my lungs to these songs (for the highway fast songs like "Pyaar Bina" are highly recommended and for the sidestreets where traffic is a litte slower songs like "Mitti" are essential).

In this global economy and global society international music is essential and this band (and album) are a fantastic place to start. if you love rock, and enjoy just singing and dancing to great rock music, this album is definately for you!

I can't count how many times I have seen this movie and still it makes me laugh.

Not a very complex comedy but it doesn't need to be: Molly (Paula Marshall) is getting married to an up-tight blue-blood and is worried that her parents (Midler and Farina) who have been divorced for many years and still hate each other "with a nuclear capability" will ruin her wedding. Despite her reservations she invites them both and it almost comes to a slugfest in the middle of the reception. Yet immediately afterwards the romance, mysteriously, rekindles and the reunited parents of the bride ditch their new spouses (a gold-digger step mother and an overly sensitive therapist stepfather who is a little too attached to his dogs) to head off for a wild weekend, leaving Molly to find them and split them apart.

For help finding her actress mother Molly gets the help of an overzealous paporazzi (played by Danny Nucci) to find them (of course the romance between the two youngsters can't be contained either).

What is the true gem of this movie is the way Midler and Farina play off each other; here is a middle aged couple acting (and even dressing) middle aged but show that no matter how old you are you still have "that old feeling". The argument scenes between them are hysterical and quick-witted (a staple of any Midler performance; aside from Bette Davis-- Midler's namesake-- no one can deliver an insult better than Bette Midler with humor and wrath).

This is a great movie for a Saturday afternoon and I would highly recommend this to anyone!