Reviews
'Tiger Woods' tops this season's golf games (AP)
AP - If you're like most sports fans, you haven't watched that much golf since June, when Tiger Woods won the U.S. Open — and then announced he was getting knee surgery and was done playing for the rest of 2008. Since then, the PGA Tour has suffered from the absence of its most glamorous celebrity. More »
Jack Johnson bids soothing farewell to summer (Reuters)
Reuters - Mellow music king Jack Johnson gave summer a gentle sendoff Sunday night, turning a massive stage at UCLA's Intramural Field into a breezy beachfront shack. All that was missing was the sound of rolling waves and grains of sand, though some women kicked off shoes or sandals to dance slowly in the grass anyway. More »
"Duchess" a disappointing showcase for Knightley (Reuters)
Reuters - In "The Duchess," actress Keira Knightley's latest period picture, a lavish melodrama of aristocratic foolishness and betrayal is designed around the colorful though not always happy life of an 18th century socialite. More »
New Bochco legal drama merely nudges "Bar" (Reuters)
Reuters - Had it come from practically any other producer, TNT's "Raising the Bar," premiering Monday at 10 p.m., might be worthy of mild praise. It is, after all, a solid legal drama with several appealing characters and above-average dialogue. More »
Japanese filmmaker tackles "Achilles" paradox (Reuters)
Reuters - In his third film examining the conflicts that arise from being distinctively creative, Japanese filmmaker Takeshi Kitano uses the mathematical paradox of the title "Achilles and the Tortoise" to chase after the true nature of art, and doesn't quite make it. More »
Iranian film "Shirin" a rewarding challenge (Reuters)
Reuters - A tough yet fascinating watch once you get into it, "Shirin" marks another interesting twist in the eclectic artistic career of Iranian filmmaker Abbas Kiarostami. More »
Asensi delivers fun in new thriller (AP)
AP - "Everything Under the Sky" (HarperCollins Publisher, 387 pages, $25.95), by Matilde Asensi: It's a good thing that the gambling, opium-addicted, prostitute-loving husband of Elvira De Poulain died. She would otherwise be stripped of an adventure that is so engrossing it could compel the reader to skip meals and ignore chores in a mad dash to read the book's ending. More »
Sad and funny stories from Annie Proulx (AP)
AP - "Fine Just the Way It Is" (Scribner. 221 pages. $25), by Annie Proulx: It was Annie Proulx's award-winning "Brokeback Mountain" — a tale of love between two Wyoming cowboys — that became an Academy Award-winning film. More »
Female doctor writes of life in Saudi Arabia (AP)
AP - "In the Land of Invisible Women" (Sourcebooks Inc. 464 pages, $24.95) by Qanta A. Ahmed: Most job contracts don't include mentions of the death penalty, but when Dr. Qanta A. Ahmed agreed to a new job in a Saudi Arabian hospital she became subject to the laws of that country which, as she writes in her memoir, can include decapitation. More »