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April 2008 Archives

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Norah Jones and Singers Who Act

April 2, 2008 11:44 AM

WHO ARE YOUR NOMINEES FOR THE BEST SCREEN PERFORMANCE EVER BY A SINGER TURNED ACTOR?

In yesterday's DVD blog, we discussed Sweeney Todd star Johnny Depp and other actors who sing onscreen or try to. Let's turn the tables today and save the hot spot for singers who act or try to. The timing is just right, what with Norah Jones opening this weekend in My Blueberry Nights (see photo), the first English-language film from Hong Kong master Wong Kar Wai (In the Mood for Love, Chungking Express). Jones isn't called on to do much thespian heavy lifting. But her natural, unaffected beauty—a perfect compliment to the bell-like clarity of her singing voice—is the canvas on which Wong Kar-wai paints his romantic fable of love lost and found. Jones plays Elizabeth, a jilted lover who seeks solace in a Manhattan diner run by Jeremy (Jude Law). I recently asked Jones how she,

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Demons Are Prowling on a Four-Star Johnny Depp DVD

April 1, 2008 9:50 AM

There is no question what DVD you should snatch up this week. It's Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street. The Two-Disc Special Edition is that rare DVD package that actually deserves to be called "special." This is one of the best DVDs of the year, packed with juicy bonus features and showcasing sound and image that set a new gold standard. Directed by Tim Burton and starring his muse, Johnny Depp, the film version of Stephen Sondheim's Broadway classic is a bloody wonder, intimate and epic, horrific and heart-rending. Depp received an Oscar nomination as Best Actor and he deserved to win if Daniel Day Lewis hadn't blown the category away in There Will Be Blood (a title that could fit this movie as well).

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