By Susan JAMES Opening Feb. 12 and running through April 27, the Fashion Institute of Design and Marketing (FIDM) in Los Angeles is presenting the 21st exhibition of Oscar-nominated costumes created by some of the industry’s most celebrated designers. The five groups of costumes feature a president of the United States and his first lady, […]
By Susan JAMES The release of “Lincoln,” Steven Spielberg’s epic new film starring Daniel Day-Lewis, was recently pushed back until after the presidential election. But Spielberg’s attempt to separate the current political landscape from the politics of Lincoln’s day was a futile gesture. The fractious in-fighting, partisanship, political deals and stratagems of a president trying […]
By Susan JAMES Bond is back in the much hyped and eagerly awaited film, “Skyfall.” The good news is, it was worth the wait. This Bond is no longer the novice spy open to romantic feelings or the genial martini-swilling assassin of earlier versions. Older, battle-scarred and battle weary, Daniel Craig’s 007 wrestles with doubts […]
By Susan JAMES If you’ve seen the coming attractions for “Flight,” director Robert Zemeckis’ new film starring Denzel Washington, you might think it’s a modern riff on the old John Wayne classic, ‘The High and the Mighty.” Demon-haunted, booze-soaked pilot manages miraculous landing of a crippled airplane in spite of overwhelming odds. If you did […]
By Susan JAMES A modest fable with a magical twist, Disney’s new release “The Odd Life of Timothy Green” is a charming story of the challenges of parenting. No explosions, no CGI, no chase scenes, but definitely some quirky secrets that thread through the plot. Jim and Cindy Green, played by Joel Edgerton and Jennifer […]
By Susan JAMES Full disclosure: I’ve never seen Arnold Schwarzenegger’s 1990 version of “Total Recall,” so I have nothing to compare with director Len Wiseman’s current version. But I doubt if the Schwarzenegger take on a dystopian, post-apocalyptic world and the role of memory in shaping perception would have lingered in the popular culture if […]
By Susan JAMES Despite the title, “The Bourne Legacy” under the direction of Tony Gilroy is trying to move the franchise on from Jason Bourne and reinvent it around another government medical experiment gone rogue named Aaron Cross. Cross is played with grim determination by Jeremy Renner but Matt Damon’s Bourne, the boyish, brain-washed assassin […]
By Susan JAMES Imagine you’re in the living room of a 30-something single someone you’ve just met when she receives an unexpected visit from a former college lover. Nine years ago these two were close but things ended badly and they haven’t seen each other since. It all seems perfectly civilized for a while but […]
By Susan JAMES Taking advantage of 130,000 enthusiastic Comic-Con fans packed into San Diego’s Convention Center, Hollywood studios sent producers and casts of their best and brightest upcoming TV shows to screen pilots, answer questions and drum up support for their fall premieres. Two themes predominated: hardy band of warriors fight end of the world […]
By Susan JAMES What a difference a year makes, especially in television. At last year’s Comic-Con, the annual, highly anticipated media extravaganza held in San Diego’s Convention Center, producers and cast of the brand new ABC television show “Once Upon A Time” faced a room of a few hundred people, screened the show’s pilot and […]