Doctor Zhivago

I don't intend to say anything new about this movie. If you have never seen it, I strongly suggest you give it a thorough viewing. If you have not seen this movie in a while, please share it again with someone who has not.

What can you get from Zhivago? A little history. A little drama. A lot of romance, and a 45-year-old lesson is how to make great movies. Best Art Direction. Best Cinematography. Best Costumes. Best Writing. Best Music. Not enough? You also get to see young Alec Guiness before he became Obi-Wan. You will also see Rod Steiger as a rotten bureaucrat. Both have passed now, and the film world is a lesser place as a result.

Omar Sharif plays the title role - brilliantly. Julie Christie and Geraldine Chaplin play his love interests which take him across Russia at a time when doing so was dangerous and difficult. These talents are all still with us and still working. Amazing.

Watch this with someone who loves poetry - in words, in notes, and in pictures.

Finding Neverland

Don't let the 7 Academy Award nominations distract you from the fact this this is a very good movie.

Director Marc Foster (Monster's Ball, Stranger Than Fiction, and The Kite Runner) has a short resume but look at the great choices he's made. Wow. Smart scripts. Great casts. Award-winning results.

Johnny Depp (Nightmare on Elm Street, Platoon, and What's Eating Gilbert Grape) is Sir J.M. Barre, author of stage plays and stories like Peter Pan. This story-of-a-story film is about the relationship he had with a family inspired him to write - stories like Peter Pan.

Kate Winslet (Sense and Sensibility, Titanic, and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind) is the 'other woman' in Sir Barre's life and the mother of the children who invent Peter Pan.

Film greats like Julie Christie and Dustin Hoffman support well in this project. This is not Hoffman's only Pan work (see Hook). And, while this is the second Pan-related movie on this site, it will almost certainly not be the last. Just because Pan Syndrome has never been recognized by the American Psychiatric Association does not mean it does not mean anything. Right? We all just exhibit it in different ways.

I would be guilty of serious dereliction of duty if I failed to mention Radha Mitchell (Man on Fire, and Mozart and the Whale) is so convincing in everything she does, we forget how young she is. Pure talent.

Watch this movie with someone knows how to tell good stories.