Owl and the Sparrow

Owl and the Sparrow - Thuy (Han Thi Pham) is a ten year old orphan working in her uncle's bamboo furniture factory in the suburbs of Saigon. When her uncle berates her, warning her that she needs the factory work because she can't survive on her own, she takes off for downtown Saigon. Thuy survives in Saigon selling roses, thanks to some help from Lan and Hai, two adults who befriend her. Lan (Cat Ly) is a glamorous stewardess with a company paid hotel room and a life that is starting to seem like a dead end thanks to a long affair with a married pilot. Hai (Le The Lu) is an unassuming zookeeper, happy in his work but heartbroken by the recent desertion of his fiance and concerned by the zoo's impending sale of his favorite animal, an elephant he has raised from birth.

Thuy is ready to take on any challenge, escape her uncle, save the elephant, even make a romantic match of her reluctant friends to create her own family. This sweet, simple story features modern Saigon as its fourth star, weaving the theme of the old versus the new, sometimes ruthless Saigon into a reasonably engaging character study.

W.C. Fields notwithstanding, writer/director Stephane Gauger succeeds in working with both children and animals in his first film, shot in Saigon in fifteen days entirely with hand held cameras. The story is predictable, dragging a bit at times, but Saigon and little Thuy make it work well enough.

Mr. Foe

Mr. Foe - Hallam Foe (Jamie Bell) is confused. He's an aging boy who likes to hang out in a tree house, no he's a creepy peeping tom with a notebook. He's a disturbed adolescent who's mother died and now he hates, no loves, no blames his stepmother Verity (Claire Forlaini). After a particularly creepy scene with Verity, young Mr. Foe runs away from home to Edinburgh, where he spots his dead mother, well Kate (Sophia Myles) her younger doppelganger. More confused love ensues until Father (Ciaran Hinds) and Verity show up to drive Hallam into crisis and ultimately, resolution . This sounds awful, but Hallam Foe, with his badger hat, Braveheart makeup, serious mother issues and unnerving propensity for heights, is an engaging character coming of age in a minefield of stereotypes, most neatly avoided. The stepmother is a step or two beyond credulity and the film drags a little in the middle, but Jamie Bell's performance and an ending that dodged a lot of bullets carried the picture for me. The Igby crowd will thrive on Mr. Foe and most of the rest of us will have that confusing I liked it, well except for... well I think I liked it, reaction when we get home.

Hidden Joys of Secret Law

Justice Department Will Share Interrogation Opinions - Relax, this is not another As Good As News diatribe on severe interrogation, the posts themselves have become a form of torture. No, the news here is the President's belief that he can ignore or modify previous executive orders without telling anyone. This is the best idea since double secret probation. Maybe the next secret executive order (so secret that only the President knows about it) will require that all Federal government vehicles on interstate highways drive on the left side of the road.

Arizona Adds Digit to License Plates to Keep Up With Growth - In recognition of its increased population and the resulting uptick in snarled traffic and angry drivers, Arizona, has deleted the purple mountains and cactus from its license plates and substituted a highly stylized pictograph of an upraised middle finger emerging from a clenched fist. State officials explained that the pictograph of the middle digit, which conveys a striking sense of frustration and imminent violence, would preserve the State's Native American tradition and enhance safety by allowing Arizona drivers to vent frustration and anger with both hands on the wheel.

OK, seriously, Arizona added a seventh digit because it needs more numbers to keep up with increased vehicle registrations. North Dakota is contemplating a cost-saving switch to three digits early next year.

Reprise - Vet's Day Off

Reprise - Like a veteran ball player, As Good As News is not writing a doubleheader today after watching one last night. The link takes you to a thorough review in Variety and I won't repeat it here. I enjoyed this Norwegian film as it followed the lives of two young writers from the point when they reach the mailbox to submit the manuscripts of their first novels for publication. Intellectual youth at work and play, humor, music, directorial techniques galore and Victoria Winge make Reprise worth seeing.

One question that no review seems to address (and I have no access to the film to check again for myself) -The soundtrack includes a voice over that speaks entirely in the conditional, i.e., . if the manuscripts of their first novels had been accepted (or not accepted in some scenarios), then..... such and such would happen. The voice over suggests the film will cover alternate versions of the two writers' lives. Reprise seemed to start down this path, returning to the mailbox scene after one brief scenario that felt almost like a false start. Only one version of the story was developed with any depth. The conditional approach added a certain edge to the voice over, but it almost seems as if the film abandoned its original structure in the editing room and didn't bother to go back and change the voice over. Is the conditional future voice over the voice of the screenwriter (perhaps Erik), considering what will happen to his characters as it appears on the screen? Is it some obscure difficulty in the translation from Norwegian to English? What is happening here?

The Village Barbershop - Drop In For A Trim

The Village Barbershop - Art (John Ratzenberger) is struggling. He's never recovered from the death of his wife eleven years ago. Now his partner has just died, his barbershop is failing and the barbershop's sleazy landlord is trying to evict him as Art avoids his problems with beer and gambling. Gloria (Shelly Coles) is struggling too. She's living in a small trailer with a truck driver who shows up twice, once to go to the bathroom and run, once more to dump her, leaving Gloria homeless, penniless, jobless and pregnant. Gloria is not avoiding anything. She solves her housing problem immediately by towing her ex's trailer right out of the park, then responds to Art's ad for a new barber. Sparks fly in the job interview, but Gloria parlays her spunk and business sense into a dual role as the savior of the barbershop and a surrogate daughter who helps Art pull his life back from the edge of disaster. As the landlord strikes one last time, Art recovers just fast enough to support Gloria in her own moment of crisis and ...guess how it all ends.

Writer/Director/Producer Chris Ford is making his first film, and it's a nice study of characters overcoming real life adversity. The reason Hollywood doesn't make many pictures like this any more is because mass audiences find them boring - and The Village Barbershop does stretch on somewhat predictably at times, with those double and triple helpings of adversity. Do not let this scare you away. The Village Barbershop does some things exceptionally well. See it whenever and wherever you can find it. Art is a well written, well played character, a grumpy stoic who breaks out with small moments of personal vengeance even before Gloria and Josie (Cindy Pickett, an old friend and new romance) begin to crack his hard boiled shell. Shelly Coles shines as Gloria, bringing not only zest, but credibility to a character that seems too good to be true on paper. Mr. Ford includes recurring comedic elements that will keep the film lively enough for most viewers. Art's one woman neighborhood watch from across the street, his running war with the party animals next door, his surveillance of the local Chinese restaurant/brothel and his counterattacks on his landlord using anonymous porn as ammunition all earn enough laughs to make As Good As News wish that Ford would try his hand at a comedy next.

Doc Gurby Rides Again

Turkmenistan: April is April Again: President Doc Gurby has returned Turkmenistan to the Gregorian calendar, reversing the unique calendar devised by his predecessor Niyazov, who had named the months after himself and his family. Turkmens are no doubt relieved that Turkmenistan has taken yet another step on the road back to sanity under the steady hand of Doc Gurby.

As the official blog of Turkmenistan, As Good As News must grudgingly give kudos where kudos are due. After a year of incessant mocking from As Good As News, the Times has finally printed an item on Turkmenistan without using "reclusive" or "hermetic" and without engaging in a speculative assault on Doc Gurby based on what the Times thinks he might, or might not, do in the future. Today's item was actually a news report, not a misplaced editorial. Yes, the terms "bizarre" and "elaborate cult of personality" did make unfortunate appearances. There's just something about a Turkmenistan story that makes the Times uncontrollably frisky. In this case, however, former President Niyazov and his colorful calendar were appropriate targets and the fallout didn't contaminate Doc Gurby or the proud people of Turkmenistan.

Clinton electability cover - elitism or racism

For Democrats, Questions Over Race and Electability - Kudos, Times. You finally noticed, with some prompting from As Good As News and the Obama campaign, that winning Democratic primaries in key states has nothing to do with winning the general election in key states. In fact Obama polls better against McCain than Clinton does in some of the very swing states that Clinton is using to bolster her electability argument. You finally noticed that the real electability argument is about race - if Obama can't win in November its because the White, blue -collar vote that turns out for Hillary in the primaries will vote for McCain or stay home in November, rather than vote for a Black candidate with the same Senate voting record and views as Hillary.

What happens if Hillary wins big in Indiana and breaks even in North Carolina? Will the super delegates begin to migrate to Hillary, even though she would still be behind in elected delegates and vote totals, because they buy into the argument that America won't vote for a Black President?

Obama's remarks about bitter people clinging to guns and religion may end up hurting him badly. It's not that these remarks say anything critical about his capability as President. The problem for Obama is that the remarks give Clinton cover to argue that Obama can't get blue-collar Whites to the polls in November because he's an elitist snob, without having to openly argue that he's not electable because of his race.

Garbage to the Rescue - Carlos Castillo paused at the window, his apartment a flaming inferno at his back, his neighbors gathered on the sidewalk three stories below. "Hold on" shouted the neighbors, as they gathered bags of garbage left at curbside awaiting pick-up. The garbage became a mound below the window, Castillo jumped - and wound up alive, though seriously hurt. As Good As News loves NY, there's always garbage when you really need it.

Mayor Lends Ear as Verdict Near in Bell Shooting -Sadly, today's on-line Times does not include the page B-6 photo of Mayor Bloomberg looking scared and desperate to escape as the Reverend Al Sharpton grabs his hand and poses on the steps of City Hall. Reverend Al has positioned himself as both the defender of the Bell family and a keeper of the peace - who can still erupt in rage tomorrow if he doesn't hear the verdict he wants. The Mayor gave Reverend Al a voice and he shrewdly used it to capture a can't lose position, regardless of the verdict. The Mayor looks like he has begun to realize this. Maybe he's thinking he should have learned something from Rudy, who would have met with Sharpton only after hell had frozen over.