The Queen: I cannot say enough about Helen Mirren's terrific performance as Queen Elizabeth II dealing with the death of Princess Diana.  She clings to tradition, until the new Prime Minister explains to her that she must respond to the universal mourning of the public or face the end of the monarchy.  There is sly wit in the beginning as Blair and Elizabeth first meet and goes through their growth through that amazing week.  Helen makes the Queen a true human being with elements of humor, wisdom, and even humbleness and I am sure her performance will be recognized come Oscar time.  And in costume she even looks very much like Her Majesty. seen 10/06

The Quiet American: Is the brilliant exploration of a man's realization that eventually you must take a side.  Michael Caine gives a many layered performance as a British reporter in Viet Nam at the end of France's fighting there and the start of the U.S. intervention.  He learns that the people he thought he knew, such as a young American, ably played by Brendan Fraser, and his Vietnamese reporting assistant, subtly played by Tzi Ma, have much more complicated lives than he knew.  He has been seduced by his life in Viet Nam with his young love, played by the charming Do Thi Hai Yen, but the arrival of the Brendan Fraser character turns it all upside down.        I don't want to give away the plot, but it is a film that will make you think, especially with our current events in Iraq.  It is a thoughtful study with the amazing performance by Michael Caine at center stage.  A very worthwhile film.  movie seen 3/22/03    RECOMMEND: Apocalyspe Now is the haunting Coppola masterpiece about Viet Nam based on the famous Joseph Conrad novel, "Heart of Darkness".  Martin Sheen plays the officer who is sent to kill a renegade American officer played by Marlon Brando.  The filming of the movie was a struggle due to Coppola's mental problems, Brando's weight, and Sheen having a heart attack.  But, although I have only seen the movie once when it was first released, the images and the feeling of the film have stayed with me for over 20 years.  AND it has the classic line given by Robert Duvall, "I love the smell of Napalm in the morning."