You begin to take certain performers, like Ralph Fiennes, for granted. After memorable performances in so many films, it is no great surprise that he should supply another here. Less certain, however, was what expect from Director Fernando Meirelles and Rachel Weisz. That is not to say there are no expectations. Meirelles spent five years developing and shooting his brilliant City of God before unvailing it at Cannes in 2002. The film went on to astonishing world wide acclaim including 4 Oscar nominations is 2004. Weisz is best known for her roles in the blockbuster The Mummy and The Mummy Returns. Her absence from this summer's sequel Tomb of the Dragon Emperor is testimony to what her Gardner award has done for her career.

Besides being an excellent and rivetting drama based on the John Le Care novel, Meirelles has crafted a unique and loving tribute to both the continent and people of Africa. Like COG, Gardner mixes gritty reality with evocative beauty as deftly as he mixes greedy and corrupt scoundrels with earnest and courageous everyday heroes. Meirelles pulls stunning beauty from the both lush and barren lands of Kenya, Nairobi and the sudan. He continues to show a great touch for dealing with the complexity of crime, corruption and its impact on the victim.

Weisz was nominated and received the oscar for her emotionally potent portrayal of an English ex-pat, activist/heiress who when confronted with a prevasive network of corruption that threatens to undo all of her good works, reacts with a desperate and bold plan to cut through the web.

Both Fiennes and Pete Postlethwaite give their normal superb performance. This one is well worth seeing.

Labels: Fiennes, Oscar, Weitz

Check back here for the running grosses of all of the summer hits:

Harold and Kumar Escapr from Guantanamo Bay =

Iron Man =

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull =

Kung Fu Panda =

apropos of nothing, this was nonetheless too cool not to post

Just when you thought it was safe to check back, here is one summer movie that I left off my "Will probaly see this" list.

The Strangers- May 30 2008

No its not another Camus rip off, this is the debut of unheralded screen writer/director Bryan Bertino(Yes I keep having to resist typing Brian Boitano), who a few scant years ago was a handyman freshly arrived in Hollywood from Texas, working as a gaffer and hoping to break into the electrician's union. Setting out to create a suspense/horror thriller, Bertino first had to decide "what scared me the most". He decided that," the moments that I'm most frightened are my girlfriend waking me up in the middle of the night and saying, 'I think there's someone in the living room.' So the whole idea came about as, 'What if you went into the living room and there was somebody there?' "

Bertino sculpted this unease into a heart pounding thriller that, depending on the blogger, may or may not be based on a true story. Bertino submitted his script for the Nicholl Fellowship, a 30 prize for unproduced writer, but instead landed represetntation and a deal with Universal initially worth low six figures now cosideralby more. Bertino's luck continued when the director slated to film The Strangers insisted that he could not possibly film it for less than $40 million. The studio heartily agreed with this assessment and therefore asked Bertino to bring it in for much less. Judging by the clip below, it was a pretty good call.