I had the opportunity to see a screening of Pedro Almodovar’s new movie, Broken Embraces, on Monday.  I have been a huge fan of Pedro’s for a long time, and it just so happens that his muse Penelope Cruz is one of my favorite actresses. This is Penelope’s fourth movie with Pedro, following “Live Flesh”, “All About My Mother” and “Volver”.

This is a great movie, with equal parts suspense and romance. The story has so many twists and turns, it may be hard to keep up with – but if you can keep up with it, it’s definitely worth it!  The movie is well made, beautiful directed – and expertly written. If you’re a fan of Penelope Cruz, or Pedro Almodovar, then you MUST go see this movie when it opens in your city. You will not be disappointed!

A man writes, lives and loves in darkness. Fourteen years before, he was in a brutal car crash on the island of Lanzarote. In the accident, he not only lost his sight, he also lost Lena, the love of his life.

This man uses two names: Harry Caine, a playful pseudonym with which he signs his literary works, stories and scripts, and Mateo Blanco, his real name, with which he lives and signs the film he directs. After the accident, Mateo Blanco reduces himself to his pseudonym, Harry Caine. If he can’t direct films he can only survive with the idea that Mateo Blanco died on Lanzarote with his beloved Lena.

In the present day, Harry Caine lives thanks to the scripts he writes and to the help he gets from his faithful former production manager, Judit García, and from Diego, her son, his secretary, typist and guide.

Since he decided to live and tell stories, Harry is an active, attractive blind man who has developed all his other senses in order to enjoy life, on a basis of irony and self‐induced amnesia. He has erased from his biography any trace of his first identity, Mateo Blanco.

One night Diego has an accident and Harry takes care of him (his mother, Judit, is out of Madrid and they decide not to tell her anything so as not to alarm her). During the first nights of his convalescence, Diego asks him about the time  when he answered to the name of Mateo Blanco, after a moment of astonishment Harry can’t refuse and he tells Diego what happened fourteen years before with the idea of entertaining him, just as a father tells his little child a story so that he’ll fall asleep.

The story of Mateo, Lena, Judit and Ernesto Martel is a story of “amour fou”, dominated by fatality, jealously, the abuse of power, treachery and a guilt complex. A moving and terrible story, the most expressive image of which is the photo of two lovers embracing, torn into a thousand pieces.

CONTEST!!!

I have 2 movie posters to give away!! All you have to do to enter – is give me your favorite Pedro Almodovar OR Penelope Cruz movie in the comments below!!

• US Residents only please
• Contest will run until Friday, December 11th
• Winner will have 48 hours to claim prize
• Leave a valid email so I can contact you!

Good luck!

To help launch the 4th season of Big Love, HBO recorded ”A Juniper Creek Christmas,” a holiday album that features eight classic songs where the lyrics have a lulzy twist to reflect life on the Juniper Creek compound. A music video for “Here We Come From Juniper Creek” was also produced to accompany the album (see it at the source).

Cast members Harry Dean Stanton (“Roman Grant”, the prophet), Mary Kay Place (“Adaleen Grant”, Roman’s sixth wife), Mireille Enos (“Jodean Marquart”, Kathy’s twin sister) and Cassi Thomson (“Cara Lynn”, Nicki’s daughter) are all featured on the album. The track titles include:

1. ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas
2. Here We Come from Juniper Creek
3. I Saw Three Hummers
4. We Three Wives
5. Deck the Compound
6. O Little Town of Juniper
7. Silent Wife
8. Joy to the World

Download the album HERE! or go to the source to listen to the songs online.

Source

Read about the scandals!

Could she look any better?

Jennifer on her Ina “The Barefoot Contessa” Garten obsession: “I know somebody who is a friend of hers, and she says she’s going to get us together… I tried to get on Ina’s [Food Channel] show. I tried to use my, well, you know…I say, use what you have to make the world better or for yourself! But eventually she just said, ‘I’m sorry, I only use my real friends on the show.’ I felt like, What are you saying? That we’re not friends? I know everything about you!”

On being a mom to her two daughters: She calls breast-feeding “the coziest feeling in the whole world” and has bonded with the other moms at Violet’s school. “You feel so close to them so quickly because you’re going through the same thing,” she says. And then there’s the homemade baby food. “It’s a little over the top,” she admits. “And I tell myself, Just give her a jar of food and forget about it! Don’t be so precious! But it’s so easy—I just puree and freeze.”

On being a working mom: “I live my life at these two extremes. I’m either a full-time stay-at-home mom or a full-time actress.”

On possibly working with husband Ben Affleck: “I think he’s brilliant at what he does, but why rock the boat? It works between us pretty well the way it is. I don’t know if I want to go to work with him. I’d be like, ‘Okay already, you got the shot. Let’s go home!’”

PS: Sorry about the comments not working… I’m trying to get that fixed right now!

Okay – so these are better late than never, right? I’m going to keep it brief – because there’s not much to say.

You all know how much I love Twilight. I’ve read the books, I’ve swooned over Robert Pattinson. I post all the pictures I can find on any of the characters.  What I’ve learned after two Twilight movies is that I like the idea of Twilight – I like the hype, I like the premieres, I like the stars, I liked the books, but I don’t actually like the movies. Twilight – which came out last year was a disappointment (but I still watched it a dozen times). And honestly, I thought that New Moon was an even bigger disappointment. I didn’t really care for it! Of course I’m glad I saw it, and I’ll probably watch it again! But was it a good movie? No! The wolves were SOOOO cheesy, not scary at all. Kirsten Stewart had waaaay too many long, brooding stares. Also, am I the only one that noticed that Robert Pattinson barely ever looked Bella in the eyes?  I’m hoping that I didn’t like this movie because New Moon was my least favorite book.  Here’s to hoping that Eclipse will blow the last two movies out of the water – cause I think New Moon sucked.

NOTE: I know my comments aren’t working right now – I’m working on it… if you agree with me – show it in a vote!

The Blind Side… I should have written my review of this movie sooner, because I absolutely ADORE this movie. This is the first movie of 2009 that I saw TWICE in the theater! You know it’s love! In fact, I can’t remember the last movie I saw twice in the theater. Sandra Bullock absolutely SHINES in this movie, and if you ask me, she deserves an Oscar nomination. It is the feel-good movie of the year. When I watched this movie I literally couldn’t wipe the smile off my face. I heart this movie. It was the best movie I’ve seen – in I don’t even know how long. Skip New Moon – see The Blind Side... it’s amazing!!!