I am a little late with this week’s newsletter because I’ve been absorbed with a bit of fantasy. I’ve spent the last couple days watching movies with my younger brother, catching up on all the latest summer “blockbusters.”

Since today is film critic Roger Ebert’s birthday (6/18), I thought it only fitting that I do my own recap of some of the summer’s biggest movies. After all, fantasy is the best “positive knowledge…”
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OPEN TO EVERYTHING
"I love being this character... She doesn't hate... She just likes to have fun, she's open to everything." ~ Angelina Jolie

Like the video game she’s based on, Lady Laura Croft, a.k.a. Angelina Jolie in the hot new Lara Croft - Tomb Raider film, is a celebration of competence and cool. As the beautiful, wealthy, and smart Croft, Jolie eats up the screen. The film is escapism at its finest.
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LANDED ON HIS HEAD
"I am more of a 'show me' person. I'd believe in UFO's or aliens if they landed on my head, but that is about as far as it would go." ~ David Duchovny

Okay, I thought David Duchovny’s latest film, Evolution, was terrible and is just a regurgitation of producer/director Ivan Reitman's 1984 hit Ghostbusters. Unfortunately, Evolution is just outright excruciating to watch. Next…
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BETTER OPPORTUNITIES
"It just seems to happen that as you get older, you season, and better opportunities come your way." ~ John Travolta

I’m biased when it comes to John Travolta, so even though my brother Rodney gave this film a “thumb’s down,” I enjoyed Swordfish, enjoyed Travolta’s seedy character Gabriel who "exists in a world beyond our world," we’re told.

Halle Berry’s beautiful and Hugh Jackman was a pleasant surprise. I’m a sucker for computer programmers, encryption, and articulate references to my favorite actor Al Pacino’s movie, Dog Day Afternoon.
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"If one is lucky, a solitary fantasy can totally transform one million realities." ~ Maya Angelou

Fantasy!