If I have a chance later, I'm going to have a few more quickie comics reviews. I find it easier to do a few at a time, when the books are fresh in my memory rather than trying to do a dozen or so titles at once. First I want to mention a couple of movies Donna and I saw on DVD last weekend.

THE HOURS - Was quite good and certainly deserving of the nominations and high praise it received. It really was all but impossible to recognise Nicole Kidman as Virginia Woolf. She was fascinating, although how close to the actual writer I don't know, since I admit to never really reading much on Woolf back in the days when I had to read some of her work for various English classes.

For me, Julianne Moore stole the film as "Laura Brown", both in the section of the film taking place in the Fifties and those scenes with Meryl Streep. Moore reminded me of several of my mother's friends, back when I was growing up during the same period. Several of them ended up leaving their husbands as the era ended and idea of divorce didn't have near the social stigma it had earlier. Those with whom my mom remained friendly with all but turned into different women all together. Only when I grew older did I realize how miserable they must have been when I first knew them.

Streep was good, but she really didn't do anything 'special' in her role. Comparing this with her turn in ADAPTATION, it is evident that she brought more to the later role. She remains one of our best actresses, but it was as if she was standing back to allow Ed Harris to steal every scene and never really brought her character to three-dimensional life.

It certainly was a remarkable film all told, but I'd recommend it with reservations. Do NOT see this film if you are easily depressed.

On the other hand, GANGS OF NEW YORK was spectacle over substance, but MAN what spectacle! Daniel Day Lewis was absolutely amazing as Bill "The Butcher". You could not take your eyes off him, even in those scenes where he wasn't the focus. Leonardo DiCaprio was surprisingly much better than I would have expected, when I first heard that he was starring in this film. I personally thought he was laughable in TITANIC (actually rewinding the video several times to watch him sink beneath the surface over and over :-). It was his performance, opposite Tom Hanks and Christopher Walken in CATCH ME IF YOU CAN that actually convinced me that he could act.

Sadly, as much as I usually like Cameron Diaz, she really lent little to her role as Jenny. The part could have been recast with half a dozen other young actresses (and to be honest I think a young actress might have been more believable in the role) and probably done better. Diaz actually looked uncomfortable in some early scenes and I have to wonder who else Scorsese might have had in mind before casting Diaz.

Speaking of Scorsese, I really would have loved to see him receive Best Director last year, and feel he was cheated out of it by some kind of 'statement' that handed the statue to Polanski. But, then again, I'm not knowledgable enough about these things to be non-biased.

The film is a 'must see', but just know that it is going to take up a few hours of your time.