Fan Fun Movie of the Month: An Unfinished Life

Today we revisit Damian Lewis in An Unfinished Life, a movie directed by Lasse Hallström based on a novel by Mark Spragg who also wrote the script with his wife Virginia Korus Spragg. Damian stars in the movie along with Jennifer Lopez as well as two giants of the big screen, Robert Redford and Morgan Freeman.

Honestly, I was surprised finding out An Unfinished Life was a Lasse Hallström movie when I watched it last year. “Why?” you may ask. Well, because even though I was not a Damian Lewis fan back in 2005, I certainly was a fan of Hallström’s cinema, I still am, and I would watch the movie just because Hallström had his name on it.

For those of you that do not know him, Lasse Hallström is a Swedish film director that first came to fame having made all ABBA music videos. Then he got into film directing and made some of my favorite films from the late 1990s and early 2000s including The Cider House Rules and Chocolat. You may have seen some of his other films including The Shipping News, Something to Talk About (I had a short-lived crush on Dennis Quaid, too, in college!) and What’s Eating Gilbert Grape with a ridiculously talented young actor called Leonardo Di Caprio! So, how come, HOW COME, I did not hear of An Unfinished Life when it hit movie theaters? Continue reading “Fan Fun Movie of the Month: An Unfinished Life”

A Spy Among Friends, Episode 4: Vodka

The Russian National drink names this episode and is a recurring theme in the story.

Na Zdorovie!

Important morning in Moscow for Philby. He has an appointment at Lubyanka, the KGB headquarters, for his debrief. The CIA agents are watching him dress up from the CIA safe house across from his apartment. As he prepares to leave, Philby remembers the press conference he had 10 years ago to deny the accusation that he was responsible for helping Donald MacLean and Guy Burgess escape to the USSR. Continue reading “A Spy Among Friends, Episode 4: Vodka”

Eight Years with Damian Lewis

OH. MY. GOD.

Fan Fun with Damian Lewis is eight years old today!

Eight years?!?!?!

YES, eight years!

I vividly remember the conversation I had with Lewisto in the last weeks of 2014 about whether it would be worth keeping an online fan diary about Damian Lewis. Being the rational guy that he is, Lewisto suggested I do it  only if I was confident I could commit for at least two years so it would be worth the effort.

2 years?!?! We just quadrupled that 😀 😀 😀 Continue reading “Eight Years with Damian Lewis”

A Spy Among Friends, Episode 3: Allegory of the Catholic Faith

Allegory of the Catholic Faith is a painting by the Dutch painter Johannes Vermeer. The painting, housed in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York since 1931, depicts a woman with one foot on top of a globe representing the dominance of the Catholic Church across the world. The  Crucifixion scene on the wall is based on a painting by the Flemish artist Jacob Jordaens that Vermeer had in his collection.

The painting makes such a fitting title for this episode since the episode does not only have a direct connection to the painting itself but also to the Catholic faith as well as to the Crucifixion.

Continue reading “A Spy Among Friends, Episode 3: Allegory of the Catholic Faith”