Another 'Munich'
By David Inman
Special to The Courier-Journal
Dear David Inman: I saw a movie with Ving Rhames. A woman accused him of raping her because she was having an affair with someone else. Can you tell me the title and if it's on video? -- L.E., Boston
Dear L.E.: That's 1997's "Rosewood," which also stars Jon Voight, Don Cheadle and Catherine Kellner.
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Dear David: I have been trying to find a movie I recall seeing in the 1980s about the hostage crisis during the 1972 Olympics in Munich. It was the same subject matter and a very similar approach to Steven Spielberg's current "Munich." I cannot find anything about it and would like to see it again on DVD. Is it available? -- Fred B., by e-mail
Dear Fred B.: You are remembering the 1976 TV movie "21 Hours at Munich," which starred William Holden, Shirley Knight and Franco Nero.
It's on video.
ManhuntDear Mr. Inman: I am looking for the name of a movie in which Kirk Douglas played a cynical bachelor, and Thelma Ritter played a mother looking for husbands for her daughters. Is it on video? -- S.C.O., Pace, Fla.
Dear S.C.O.: That's the 1963 film "For Love or Money," which also stars Mitzi Gaynor, Julie Newmar and Leslie Parrish as the daughters.
It was on video but is now out of print.
Freelance writer David Inman's column appears daily. Write to him at The Courier-Journal, 525 W. Broadway, P.O. Box 740031, Louisville, KY 40201-7431; or e-mail him at mail@askinman.com. Questions of general interest will be answered; personal replies are not possible.
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The Curse of Wilson
We’re all talking international now.
By Jonah Goldberg
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Michael Rubin of the American Enterprise Institute and editor of Middle East Quarterly recently denounced this “Clintonian” turn in Bush’s foreign policy. By “Clintonian” he means caving into the insatiable lust for the endless argy-bargy that sustains the international community.
The central tenet of those who refer to the international community as if it were some holy communion of angels rather than a yammering maw of bureaucrats is that it is always better to do wrong in a big group than to do right alone. Sen. John Kerry, a high priest in the Church of Internationalism, always grounded his most passionate criticism of Bush in the fact that the president failed to form a “grand coalition” on Iraq like Bush’s father had. The upshot seemed to be that invading Iraq would have been a good idea if only Chad and Uruguay were on board.
Actually, the truth was otherwise. Bush did, in fact, build a large “coalition of the willing” (a terrible term since a coalition of the unwilling is a bit of an oxymoron, like a ‘team of non-team members’). Bush’s critics guffawed at our puny 48-member alliance, noting that there were few heavyweights among them. The prevailing attitude among Bush’s critics seemed to be, “Azerbaijan? Portugal? Romania? These aren’t real countries! Germany, Russia, France — now those are real countries!”
Well, we’re playing nicely with those guys now, and few in the Bush-is-always-wrong school are impressed. But their partisan and hypocritical criticism had merit nonetheless. It’s simply not true that all countries are created equal.
Of the many bad habits Woodrow Wilson bequeathed to America, one of the worst was his penchant for talking about countries as if they were people. He used the rhetoric of ‘self-determination’ as if he were talking about individual humans looking for justice, and he psychologized their actions with almost Freudian aplomb. This attitude stemmed in part from his faith that he and the people were one, so why shouldn’t he talk about other countries as if they were people too?
Once you think of nations as people, the cult of unity, which assumes that togetherness for its own sake is a virtue, kicks in. Our discussions of foreign policy have been corrupted by this sloppiness. One improbable example was the deeply flawed Steven Spielberg movie Munich, which took it as a given that nations are prone to the same psychological maladies as individuals. A more familiar instance of this thinking is the idiocy that confuses votes by the mob of kleptocracies and tyrannies in the United Nations General Assembly as some sort of expression of democratic will. A conclave of dictators doesn’t become democratic merely by voting on where to order lunch. Also, by seeing nations as people with different lifestyles, we confuse nationalistic dictatorships with democracies. When a cabal of murderous thugs like the Baathists takes over a country, it is not self-determination no matter what the Michael Moore crowd says.
Egalitarianism has its place when it comes to talking about people, but it’s misplaced in foreign policy. For example, did you know that the New York metropolitan area has a bigger gross domestic product than all but eight nations in the world? According to data compiled by economist Kevin Hassett, Belgium’s economy is smaller than Chicago’s, and the Netherlands’s — the Vatican of internationalism — is smaller than that of Los Angeles.
I’m not suggesting that economic might makes right. Nor am I arguing, as realists do, that international affairs is purely a game of power. What I am saying is that we are very confused about what confers legitimacy in foreign affairs, and that this confusion stems from our annoying habit of imposing our ideas about people on things that aren’t people. And, I’m saying it’s largely Wilson’s fault.
©2006 Tribune Media Services, Inc.
Allen draws praise for 'Match Point'
6/21/2006 3:45 PM
By: Chris Nashawaty, Entertainment Weekly
When “Match Point” hit theaters last year, critics hailed it as the return of Woody Allen. 
WATCH THE VIDEO 
Entertainment Weekly
Chris Nashawaty reviews "Match Point" and other DVD releases.
Well, it is and it isn't.
Yes, “Match Point” is a step up from the limp string of tired, phoned-in flicks Allen has been churning out for the past decade. But that's not saying much.
The most notable “return” here is how blatantly he returns to his last great film, 1989's “Crimes and Misdemeanors.” Aside from a location switch -- upper-crust New York to upper-crust London -- it's the same story, although not nearly as profound or well-acted.
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Wilton and Hewett become fast friends. Soon, Wilton is hanging out at the Hewett family estate and squiring his friend’s sweet, naïve sister (Emily Mortimer). Wilton also gets introduced to Hewett's flirty American girlfriend, Nola (Scarlett Johansson).
While Wilton dates Mortimer’s character and reaps the benefits of dating a rich girl -- such as a plum job in her father's company -- he starts a torrid affair with Johansson’s character on the side. But then Nola starts to get a little “Fatal Attraction”-y, and he considers killing her.
Rhys Meyers, who always seems a little vacant, doesn't really carry off the fatal dilemma he's grappling with.
Johansson certainly plays the sex bomb with ease, even if she lays it on a bit thick at times.
Do yourself a favor and rent “Crimes and Misdemeanors” instead.
Other new DVD releases:
“Munich” This Best Picture nominee, directed by Steven Spielberg, shows how Israel took revenge for the murder of their Olympic athletes in 1972.
“The New World” Colin Farrell is an English adventurer making first contact with Native Americans.
“The Poseidon Adventure” Irwin Allen, the disaster-flick maestro from the 1970s, wreaks havoc on a cruise ship.
By Tatiana Siegel
LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - Oscar-nominated actress Natalie Portman and the star of Steven Spielberg's "Munich," Eric Bana, are in final talks to take the lead roles in Columbia Pictures' historical drama "The Other Boleyn Girl."
Television director Justin Chadwick has signed on to make his feature debut at the helm of the picture, which is based on a novel by Philippa Gregory and is set to begin shooting in late September in Europe.
The story revolves around the ferociously ambitious Boleyn sisters, Mary and Anne (Portman), who are rivals for the bed and heart of 16th-century English King Henry VIII (Bana).
Peter Morgan ("The Last King of Scotland") adapted the screenplay.
BBC Films, which originally acquired book rights and made a 2003 TV movie starring Natascha McElhone, also is a producer on the feature project. Scott Rudin, who set the film up with Columbia, will executive produce. Focus Features has the option to acquire international rights.
Portman, who earned an Academy Award nomination for her role in "Closer," recently starred in "V for Vendetta." Her credits also include "Free Zone," "Garden State" and "Cold Mountain."
Bana, who most recently played an Israeli assassin assigned to hunt down Palestinians suspected of carrying out the bloody 1972 raid on the Summer Olympics in "Munich," next appears in Curtis Hanson's "Lucky You."
Chadwick's helming credits include last year's "Bleak House," the BAFTA-winning TV series based on a Charles Dickens' novel.
Reuters/Hollywood Reporter