Reviews
Islander (2006)
Pulls you in; great visuals and sound track
I just saw Islander at the LA Film Festival and liked it very much. It's a story about lobster fishermen living on a island 16 miles off the coast of Maine: their lives and their livelihood. The focus is on acceptance within this close-knit community. I found it surprisingly persuasive. The scenes on and about the island (off Rockport, Maine -- filmed on location) were stunning and the development of the key characters was quite well done. Expect to see this film in theaters soon, hopefully in distribution not confined to "art" theaters. This is a professional movie in every way and deserved to be seen. I suspect it will do well in the LA Film Festival and others.
King Solomon's Mines (1950)
Still a great film, plus...
for you readers of Elizabeth Peters, you will note the delightful and self-aware parallels between this film and her "The Last Camel Died at Noon," in which a search for a lost kingdom begins with a map, a sceptical search team, and an elegant-looking volunteer. Great fun.