CINEMANIA:

Vanity Fair (2004, USA, Mira Nair) AKA The Way of All Flesh

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but I'm afraid that Vanity Fair, Mira Nair’s adaptation of the William Makepeace Thackeray novel, is something of a mess. I generally quite like the work of director Nair, and I confess to absolutely adoring Monsoon Wedding, but it appears that she has allowed herself to be swamped by the source material, Thackeray's massive tome. Indeed, it just might be a good rule of thumb to Beware the 19th Century Literary Adaptation. For proof, you don't need to look far, just check out 2002's Nicholas Nickleby.

Lucia, Lucia (2003, Mexica, Antonio Serrano) AKA Another Tequila Sunrise

Lucia (Cecilia Roth) is an author of children’s books, struggling with boredom, unhappiness and routine in her life and marriage, who only realizes this once her hubby is kidnapped in an airport as they are about to depart on their holiday getaway together.

La Strada (1954, Italia, Frederico Fellini) AKA The Tears of a Clown

The legendary Frederico Fellini began his career in movies as a screenwriter for neo-realist pioneer filmmaker Roberto Rossellini, and his great success would establish the expectation that Fellini would follow in his mentor’s footsteps.

Reefer Madness (1938, USA, Louis Gasner) AKA Teach Your Children Well

Reefer Madness opens with a siren-warning that "[m]arijuana is…a violent narcotic…the Real Public Enemy Number One!" The camera then focuses on Dr.

Tupac: Resurrected (2003, USA, Lauren Lazin) AKA The Power and the Glory

Tupac: Resurrected is a fascinating, if flawed, documentary that finds an unusual hook to lure in its audience: The film tells Tupac’s story in his own words, culling the ubiquitous voice-over narration from a plethora of interviews and layering them over videos and found footage of Shakur.

Giant (1956, USA, George Stevens) AKA You Bought it Sight Unseen

Giant is a great big old-fashioned film that is framed as an epic, as it spans several decades in the lives of an extended family of characters at a time in Texas history when sweeping social and economic changes were besetting its people. Yet, the story has a quiet intimacy to it despite the immense grandeur of the setting and the scope of the historical backdrop.