Monthly Archives: March 2009

25 things you didn't know about me

Brothers Roland and Richard, my Dad and me, many moons ago Facebook has a thing where folks share 25 random facts that maybe their friends didn’t know about them. My daughter Shannon Bennett encouraged me to make a list but … Continue reading

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Boat That Rocked is creaky but just about floats

Ensemble cast in ‘The Boat That Rocked,’ which opens in the UK on April 1 By Ray Bennett LONDON — Richard Curtis‘ new comedy “The Boat That Rocked,” about the pirate radio stations that sprang up briefly in the United … Continue reading

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An interview with Maurice Jarre, who has died at 84

Three-time Oscar winner Maurice Jarre Maurice Jarre, the great French composer who has died at 84, deservedly won Academy Awards for his scores to three David Lean films – “Lawrence of Arabia,” “Doctor Zhivago” and “A Passage to India” – … Continue reading

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Iron Mike Tyson fighting for approval

Mike Tyson in the ring in James Toback’s documentary ‘Tyson’ By Ray Bennett CANNES — When he’s not pounding very large men to the ground, ex-fighter Mike Tyson speaks directly to the camera in James Toback‘s film “Tyson” and it’s … Continue reading

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There's no Knowing with Nicolas Cage at the box office

Nicolas Cage in Knowing, which opens in the UK on March 25 The latest Nicolas Cage suspense thriller “Knowing” opened at No. 1 in North America on the weekend with an estimated $24.8 million ahead of the Paul Rudd comedy … Continue reading

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Clive Owen welcomes Julia Roberts back in Duplicity

Clive Owen and Julia Roberts in Duplicity By Ray Bennett Big names and major track records combine in the light-hearted corporate thriller “Duplicity” due from Universal on March 20. Offering counter programming for grownups to the fantasy adventure “Watchmen”, the … Continue reading

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Elbow make it a beautiful day at Wembley

Elbow perform at Wembley Arena Mercury Prize and Brit Award winners Elbow are the best band in the land. London’s Wembley Arena on March 14 was jammed to the rafters for a two-hour concert that showed the Bury lads at … Continue reading

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The ruins of Detroit captured in beautiful photographs

Detroit has long been a city in trouble but living across the river in Windsor, ON, from 1969 to 1977 left me with a great fondness for the sad old place where I covered political gatherings and peace demonstrations, reviewed … Continue reading

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City of Sylvia is an utterly charming film about a lost love

Pilar Lopez de Ayala is the object of a young man’s passion ‘In the City of Sylvia’ Thanks to Axiom Films, a terrific film titled “In the City of Sylvia”, which I reviewed in Venice in 2007, is finally opening … Continue reading

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Guillermo Arriaga laments Hollywood's blockbuster fixation

Kim Basinger and Joaquim De Almeida in ‘The Burning Plain’ out in the UK March 13 By Ray Bennett VENICE — Veteran screenwriter and first-time director Guillermo Arriaga sat by the pool at a hotel on the Venice Lido and … Continue reading

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