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I don't remember when was the last time I saw it, a decade at least and then, a couple of days ago, two kids rented it and put it on on one of those super plasma deals. Wow! It captured me immediately. Colin First already then giving a performance that I don't quite understand why he didn't get an Oscar nomination. He is extraordinary! To my surprise Hart Bochner (Die Hard) holds his own in a sensational "mano a mano" with Firth. The film explores the interior of a guy without a real identity, who lives his life through film. That's the only thing he connects with. His portrayal of loneliness is devastating and yet Martin Donovan, the writer/director finds a cinematic and thoroughly entertaining way to tell the story. The humor is so sophisticated that I'm a bit surprised we haven't seen more of it in other films. I'm planning to see it again soon with the director's commentary. If you haven't seen it but love film. Don't waste another minute. Rent it, buy it or steal it.

I wept like I hadn't wept in a movie for years. Director Valerio Zurlini and his cinematographer Giuseppe Rotunno gives us a visual symphony in browns and dark yellows. The faces of the brothers Enrico and Lorenzo played with shattering truth by Marcello Mastroianni and Jaques Perrin have made a home in my brain. Their reunion with their grandmother, played by the sublime Sylvie, is an image, a film moment that I shall never forget. As it happens more often than not, the Italians have released this gem in DVD without English subtitles - not in English or any other language for that matter. I'm grateful for speaking and understanding Italian well enough to enjoy this movie to the fullest. If you do as well, I recommend it wholeheartedly.

Wild horses couldn't have dragged me to the theaters to see this movie but I couldn't say no to my nieces and they are the ones that selected the DVD. What a surprise and how dangerous to pre-judge. "Marley and Me" has, at least, 4 or 5 elements that put it way above other movies of its kind. It reminded me (without being similar) to a favorite of my own childhood "Old Yeller" and that alone placed me on a very special frame of mind. Jennifer Aniston surprised me. Her performance feels and sounds truthful and thoughtful. The mother of three who left behind a promising career to dedicate herself fully to her family, reeks of a familiar kind of pathology that Aniston takes all the way without allowing the acting get in the way. I believed her and that makes things work on all levels. Then, Alan Arkin, he creates a fully fledged character out of a clichè. He's wonderful. And Marley? The series of extraordinary dogs who played the arch of this unconventional creature, is a triumph of sorts. Some of the music and Marley running I could have done without and I must confess I wouldn't have cast Owen Wilson but that's just too small a problem to spoil the surprise this movie provides. Kathleen Turner plays a cameo as a dog instructor that provoked a gasp in the audience. She's closer to Shirley Stoler in "Seven Beauties" than to Geena Davis in "The Accidental Turist" Use your kids as an excuse to see Marley. It works.