GIRL MEETS MEN She arrived in Fort Smith with two long braids, her father dead in the street, bent on revenge and calling it justice. All of 14 years, she carried the aura of a professional. She would quote the law. She would spook old men. She would hire the marshal least likely to take…

SOMETHING TO FIGHT ABOUT I once referred to Christian Bale as The Actor Most Likely To Tick Off His Wife By Staying In Character Over Dinner. Shortly thereafter, to my amusement, I read an article in which Bale admitted this was true, that his method actor’s commitment sometimes got on his wife’s nerves. With that…

FOR PEOPLE WHO LIKE MOVIES THAT TAKE PLACE IN VENICE ONLY I suppose it’s at least a small accomplishment that The Tourist ends in the exact place that it’s been going all along — with its too mega-stars, Johnny Depp and Angelina Jolie, in white tux and evening gown, dashing and bejeweled on a sailboat…

NOT YOUR MOTHER’S HONEYMOON Picture one of those seaside cafes on The Riviera from the idyllic literature of pre-depression jazz age. Â  Everyone’s well mannered; clothes are pastel; sailboats bob in the sun; the air seems rarified. Young writer David Bourne Â  has just married rich, spoiled, pretty, poisonous Catherine. They’re footloose on an extended honeymoon. “I’m…

WHAT I DID FOR BALLET The Criterion version of the classic 1953 musical The Band Wagon includes a brilliant lost dance number by Cyd Charisse called “Two-Faced Woman.” Â  The lanky Texan with the French married name performs a delirious routine in a sleek black outfit. For all the Technicolor appeal, the outtakes reveal something you…