OK, so if you get a chance to go see "Defiance," the new Daniel Craig/Liev Schreiber WWII flick, hie thee to the theater. Totally worth the $9 admission.

Craig and Schreiber play two of four Jewish brothers living in Belarus when the German army begins loading people into trains and killing anyone with a yellow star on their coat. Instead of letting themselves be caught, they take to the woods near their home. Eventually, more and more people show up at their forest camp, and pretty soon there are hundreds of refugees dependign on them for survival.

Craig and Schreiber are both convincing, and the Russian soldiers they hook up with later are interesting as well, because there's a certain degree of moral ambiguity in the characters. It's not "James Bond rescues the Jews" by any stretch of the imagination. Sometimes, circumstances cause good people to do bad things. Craig's Tuvia and Schreiber's Zus are both flawed men, but ultimately embrace their positions as leaders and saviors.
Interestingly, "Defiance" is based on a true story, and the real Bielski brothers saved about 1200 people -- whose descendants number around 30,000 today.

There are a few nits to pick with the film. Early on, there are only a few people in the woods with the Bielskis, and yet there are concerns about food shortages. Now, I've never been to the Belarussian forest, but I'm pretty sure someone could have shot a deer or snared a rabbit or caught a fish. I'm sure there's a reason for the worries about starvation, but it was never really explained. Also, later in the film, a female character talks about how hungry she is and how she's just "skin and bones", and yet she's the curviest actress on the screen. So either she's NOT starving, and it was meant as a joke, or the filmmakers somehow didn't think it all through.

I also would have liked to have seen more about the day to day living in the camp, like where did they get a wood stove from? I'll have to read the book to get more details on some of this.

These small things aside, it was definitely a good flick, and a refreshing change from most of the WW2 movies that are out there.

A side note - although it's rated R for violence and language, you could probably take a younger teen to see it, if you're interested in showing them a side of the Holocaust that is rarely mentioned.
 

Where on earth are the guys like Mr. Darcy anymore? Seriously, it's no wonder Jane has remained on peoples' bookshelves nearly two hundred years after her stories take place.

Knightley loves Emma despite the fact that she's sometimes a twit (albeit a good-hearted one) who can't mind her own business and sometimes says foolish things.

Darcy loves Eliza even though her family is completely unsuitable and they're complete opposites -- in fact, he's consumed with such a burning passion for her that he wishes to marry her "against his better judgement," and the opinions of society be damned. In fact, he goes out of his way to salvage the reputation of wayward Lydia just so he can end up with Eliza.

Captain Wentworth loves Anne Eliot despite their years of separation. They parted years before but they never stopped thinking about each other, because, as he says, "a man can be as constant and unwavering in his love and devotion as the fairer sex."

Combine that with the universally acknowledged truth that everyone looks sexy in Regency garb, and I often wonder if maybe I was born in the wrong place and the wrong time. Where are the Darcys, the Wentworths, the Knightleys, the men who will fight a duel in your honor at dawn, take you to the ball after dinner, and then take you home for a passionate romp in the sack because they're so damned in love with you?

Or maybe I'm just projecting my own grumpiness into a fantasy inspired by thoughts of Colin Firth toweling off after a splash in the copper tub :)

Perhaps, she mused, one ought not to watch "Pride and Prejudice" while one is feeling moody and dissatisfied.

Isn't it ironic (sang Alanis) that the people in our lives we love the most are the ones most capable of ripping our hearts to shreds?

And people say the Universe has no sense of humor. Ha.

This is epic.

Can someone please explain to me why everyone else in this house is allowed to grumble and bitch when they feel like it, but the moment I point out that I'm displeased with something, I am accused of whining and being bitchy?

Srsly.

Yeah, I'm tired, because I got about five hours of sleep last night, thanks to a random bout of insomnia. I'm not asking for sympathy, I just want to be allowed to say "Crap, I'm tired" without having to hear "Well, I'm tired TOO and I worked all day and blah blah blah".

Yeah, I don't feel good. I've had an ear infection for two weeks and my whole freakin' face hurts. I'd like to be able to say "I don't feel good" without being told that I'm whining. No, I'm not whining, I'm just making an observation.

Damn it, but I feel snippy this afternoon. Maybe I'll get lucky and Peaches will take pity on me and post some Russell Crowe/Jason Isaacs/James Purefoy man-candy images to perk me up a little.

In the absence of celebrity studlyness, I'll take some chocolate. Dark, please, with a Bailey's chaser.