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Set in Madrid, the story defies description, but this much can be revealed: young, handsome Cesar (Eduardo Noriega) is vain, rich, charming, and--following a botched suicide-murder scheme by a jilted lover--horribly disfigured. He'd fallen in love with Sofia (Penélope Cruz) but is now an embittered husk of his former self, stuck in a "psychiatric penitentiary" on a murder charge and hiding behind an expressionless mask. His reality has crumbled, but as the film's agenda is gradually revealed, we realize that there are other factors in play. Exposing that agenda would be a criminal offense against those who haven't seen the film; suffice it to say that ! Open Your Eyes takes you into the twilight zone and bey! ond, and does so cleverly enough to prompt Tom Cruise to produce and star in an English-language remake, Vanilla Sky. The 2001 remake, directed by Cameron Crowe, costars Cameron Diaz and Penélope Cruz, who reprises her original role. --Jeff ShannonOscar winner Javier Bardem (No Country for Old Men), Oscar nominee Penelope Cruz (Volver) and Golden Globe nominee Scarlett Johansson (The Nanny Diaries) light up the stunning city of Barcelona in this sexy romantic comedy. Vicky and Cristina are two young Americans spending a summer in Spain, who meet a charming Casanova and his beautiful but volatile ex-wife. When they all become romantically entangled, the smoldering sparks begin to fly in hilarious fashion. Critics rave, Vicky Cristina Barcelona is one of Woody Allen s finest films, with bravura performances from its incredible cast (Jeffrey Lyons, Reel Talk/NBC).It must be true that getting out of town can do a fellow a lot of good, because Vicky Cristina Barcelona is the best movie Woody Allen has made in years. Okay, you're right, 2006's Match Point already claimed that honor and, as Allen's first film made in England, established the virtues of getting away from overfamiliar territory (namely Manhattan). But the Woodman's first film made in Spain matches the ice-cold Match Point for crisp authority, and yields a good deal more sheer pleasure besides. Rebecca Hall (Vicky) and Scarlett Johansson (Cristina) play two young Americans, best friends, spending a summer in Catalonia. Vicky is going for a master's in "Catalan identity" (though her Spanish is shaky); Cristina is going along for, oh, just about anything. That soon includes celebrated abstract artist Juan Antonio (Javier Bardem), who's anything but abstract in his forthright proposition that the two join him in his private plane, his travels, and his bed. That he has an insane ex-wife, Maria Elena (Penélope Cruz), who may or may not have tried to kill hi! m is not really an issue until the wife reappears and ... well! , consid er the possibilities.
Vicky Cristina Barcelona isn't exactly a comedy, at least not in the manner of Allen's "early, funny ones," but it's informed by a rueful wit that finds its fullest expression in reflective voiceover commentary. Spoken by Christopher Evan Welch, but surely on behalf of the 73-year-old auteur, this element of the film is neither (as some have charged) patronizing nor uncinematic; rather, it's integral to the movie's participation in a venerable European literary tradition, the sentimental education. Instead of Bergman or Fellini, this time Allen is invoking the François Truffaut of Jules and Jim and Eric Rohmer in his many meditations on the game of love. The entire cast is terrific (both Hall and Johansson get to play "the Woody part" at different points), with Bardem and Cruz especially delightful as exemplars of Old Worldliness. Cinematographer Javier Aguirresarobe honors every drop of Catalonian sunlight and glint of Gaudà arch! itecture. --Richard T. Jameson
Stills from Vicky Cristina Barcelona (Click for larger image)
Beyond Bandidas
! More Films from Salma Hayek | More Films from Penelope Cruz | More Comic Westerns |
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A luminous Penélope Cruz stars as an actress who sacrifices everything for true love in Broken Embraces, Academy Award -winning filmmaker (2003, Best Writing, Original Screenplay, Talk to Her) Pedro Almodóvar's acclaimed tale of sex, secrets and cinema. When her father becomes gravely ill, beautiful Lena (Cruz) consents to a relationship with her boss Ernesto (José Luis Gómez), a very wealthy, much-older man who pays for her father's hospitalization and provides her a lavish lifestyle. But Lena's dream is to act and soon she falls for the director of her first film - a project bankrolled by her husband to keep her near. Upon his discovery of the affair, Ernesto stops at nothing to ruin Lena's happiness.Pedro Almodóvar continues to! reinvent Hollywood's Golden Age for a new era with Broken Embraces. A blind screenwriter in the present day, Mateo Blanco, a.k.a. Harry Caine (LluÃs Homar), reminisces about his favorite leading lady to his assistant, Diego (Tamar Novas). In 1992, when Caine met Lena (Penélope Cruz), stockbroker Ernesto (José Luis Gómez) had just made the cash-strapped secretary his mistress. First, Ernesto pays for her mother's medical care; then he supports her dream to act. In the process, Caine casts her in his screwball comedy and falls in love, and a passionate affair begins. Ernesto suspects something is up, so he hires his shifty son, Ernesto Jr. (the off-key Rubén Ochandiano), to film the couple surreptitiously, and a lip reader translates their conversations. Caine's production manager, Judit (Volver's Blanca Portillo), further complicates the scenario. By the end, Caine, whose name serves as a tip of the hat to hard-boiled author James M. Cain (The Postman ! Always Rings Twice), has lost his vision and his girl, and! the cul prit isn't as obvious as it seems. With Embraces, Almodóvar riffs on Tinseltown classics where greed and lust lead to death. If less successful than Live Flesh, a prior noir, his jigsaw storytelling remains just as riveting and his principal cast rises to the occasion, particularly Cruz, who plays a more passive character than usual and remains, much like Otto Preminger's Laura before her, a mystery that no one, not even the filmmaker, can ever completely solve. --Kathleen C. Fennessy
Stills from Broken Embraces (Click for larger image)
Brande Roderick, former Playmate of The Year and star of Celebrity Apprentice Season 2, is your advisor, confidante, and stand in best friend in this fun, comprehensive guide to getting the best out of life from someone who knows how to live it!
Bounce, Don’t Break has something for every ageâ€"from the young woman unsure of what lies ahead to the seasoned career woman who is looking to sharpen her game. Brande offers the straight-talking advice that women need the most (and don’t always get)â€"words of wisdom she has shared with and received from her closest and most successful friends.
Inside you’ll find 8 keys to success, including tools to help YOU: assess and improve your self-reliance and self-esteem; identify personal and professional goals; strategize financially to reach short and long term aims; navigate dating and your search for Mr. Right; and much more. Brande convinces you that personal resilience, hard work, and clear-cut goals are the means to realizing your dreams.
Packed with fun and informative quizzes, useful tips and tricks, as well as personal anecdotes and nearly 30 color photographs, Bounce, Don’t Break will have you well on your way to enjoying the same level of success as Brande herself.
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Brande Roderick, former Playmate of The Year and star of Celebrity Apprentice Season 2, is your advisor, confidante, and stand in b! est friend in this fun, comprehensive guide to getting the bes! t out of life from someone who knows how to live it!
Bounce, Don’t Break has something for every ageâ€"from the young woman unsure of what lies ahead to the seasoned career woman who is looking to sharpen her game. Brande offers the straight-talking advice that women need the most (and don’t always get)â€"words of wisdom she has shared with and received from her closest and most successful friends.
Inside you’ll find 8 keys to success, including tools to help YOU: assess and improve your self-reliance and self-esteem; identify personal and professional goals; strategize financially to reach short and long term aims; navigate dating and your search for Mr. Right; and much more. Brande convinces you that personal resilience, hard work, and clear-cut goals are the means to realizing your dreams.
Packed with fun and informative quizzes, useful tips and tricks, as well as personal anecdotes and nearly 30 color photographs, Bounce, Don’t Break will have you well on your way to enjoying the same level of success as Brande herself.
Â
Brande Roderick, former Playmate of The Year and star of Celebrity Apprentice Season 2, is your advisor, confidante, and stand in best friend in this fun, comprehensive guide to getting the best out of life from someone who knows how to live it!
Bounce, Don’t Break has something for every ageâ€"from the young woman unsure of what lies ahead to the seasoned career woman who is looking to sharpen her game. Brande offers the straight-talking advice that women need the most (and don’t always get)â€"words of wisdom she has shared with and received from her c! losest and most successful friends.
Inside you’ll find 8 keys to success, including tools to help YOU: assess and improve your self-reliance and self-esteem; identify personal and professional goals; strategize financially to reach short and long term aims; navigate dating and your search for Mr. Right; and much more. Brande convinces you that personal resilience, hard work, and clear-cut goals are the means to realizing your dreams.
Packed with fun and informative quizzes, useful tips and tricks, as well as personal anecdotes and nearly 30 color photographs, Bounce, Don’t Break will have you well on your way to enjoying the same level of success as Brande herself.
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This is an unautographed photograph of star Brande Roderick.In the event this photo is sold out, another photo of Brande Roderick will be sent.Authentic Replicas of America's Hottest Cars Featuring Playboy's Hottest Women! Die - Cast Metal Body and Chassis, Lifelike "Rubber" Tires Adult Collectible, Bonus "Centerfold" and Celebrity Profile...many include Rare UnPublished "Outtake" Photos! There are three different versions of th! e centerfold
Teresa Strasser is an Emmy-winning writer, radio personality (as Adam Carolla's long-suffering sidekick) and the author of Exploiting My Baby: A Memoir of ! Pregnancy and Childbirth.Â