Jane Austen never goes out of style. The founding mother of chick lit (I say that with love and respect; please don’t throw your dog-eared copies of Pride & Prejudice at me) has become cinema’s go-to wordsmith. Move over, Shakespeare: This is Jane’s world now.

Of course, adapting Austen’s books for the big screen is nothing new. But two upcoming films take it a step further this summer. They are inspired by the very woman herself. Becoming Jane (opening Aug. 10) and The Jane Austen Book Club (opening Sept. 21) both draw inspiration from Austen’s life. And both look, at first glance, pretty intriguing.

Becoming Jane features Anne Hathaway as a 20-year-old Austen at the start of her writing career and a crossroads in her love life. It sounds like, for lack of a better description, classic Austen. And Anne definitely fits the part. Broody writer looks good on her. … continue reading

Entertainment Weekly recently issued a list of the 25 best action movies. I skimmed it so fast, I almost sprained something, because very few of the movies appealed to me. I'm just not big on big exploding things. There are exceptions, of course (like The Matrix and the original Star Wars trilogy), but I tend to prefer films in which character development prevails over plot development — or at least doesn't disappear entirely in a flaming fireball or a rain of bullets.

So here's my list of inaction movies. In these films, the fireworks occur inside the characters' heads. Maybe the characters talk a lot; or maybe they think a lot but say very little; or maybe they actually do a lot, but the doing is less important than how they feel about what they've done. Or maybe it's not so much about a lack of action as an abundance of brain activity. Or maybe I'm overthinking it. Nah! Anyway, here they are. (The quintessential inaction movie is, of course, My Dinner With Andre (1981), but I'm not including it here because, hello? No women.)

13. Clockwatchers (1998)
It's right there in the title: In this movie about temporary office workers, all the characters do is watch the clock and plan to prepare to get ready to change their lives. It's like 9 to 5 on quaaludes. But I can't think of four people I'd rather watch do nothing than Toni Collette, Parker Posey, Lisa Kudrow and Alanna Ubach (she also happens to be my favorite part of Legally Blonde). Don't miss Debra Jo Rupp (the mom from That '70s Show) as the paranoid, pernicious head of personnel.

The trailer even crows, "In a world where nothing ever happens ..." … continue reading