Bright Star

Although he's collected plenty of critical acclaim for his roles in such movies as "Lars and the Real Girl" and "The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford," Paul Schneider is still far from a household name. Even now, the raves for his role as John Keats' friend and patron Charles Brown in Jane Campion's understated period drama "Bright Star" -- a chorus that began at Cannes and escalated with its screening at the Toronto International Film Festival last week -- are unlikely to catapult him into the national spotlight.

Rep. Gabrielle Giffords of Arizona, who came to symbolize hope and resilience as she tenaciously recovered from a gunshot wound to the head during the last year, announced she would resign from Congress to concentrate on her recovery. Giffords, 41, announced her plans in a stylized video on YouTube and Facebook and in a Twitter post. Her decision, effective this week, clears the way for candidates in both parties to stake a claim on her competitive border district. By state law, her replacement will be chosen in a special election.

You should be talking about: "Bright Star" If there were any justice, star Abbie Cornish would be getting an Oscar nomination for her role as the love of poet John Keats. The slow-burning romance, from director Jane Campion, has been largely overlooked this awards season. Protest by buying the DVD out this week. (Tuesday) Still talking about: "This Is It" The DVD release of the Michael Jackson concert film will include two extra documentaries going deeper into the development of what were to be the King of Pop's comeback shows.

Syria, in the ancient heart of the Middle East, used to be rough, insular, politically extreme and all but off the map for travelers. Now, with a more forward-looking government, tourism increasing by almost 50% a year and opulent new hotels opening by the score, the luster is back on the magic lamp, making Syria one of the world's most compelling destinations for 2011. Recent visitors from the U.S. report that the largely Sunni Muslim population receives non-Islamic Westerners courteously, that tourists are allowed to shop and browse without annoyance from hard-selling touts and merchants, and that culture, cuisine and the arts in the former French colony have developed in strikingly stylish ways.

Syria, in the ancient heart of the Middle East, used to be rough, insular, politically extreme and all but off the map for travelers. Now, with a more forward-looking government, tourism increasing by almost 50% a year and opulent new hotels opening by the score, the luster is back on the magic lamp, making Syria one of the world's most compelling destinations for 2011. Recent visitors from the U.S. report that the largely Sunni Muslim population receives non-Islamic Westerners courteously, that tourists are allowed to shop and browse without annoyance from hard-selling touts and merchants, and that culture, cuisine and the arts in the former French colony have developed in strikingly stylish ways.

As the air gets cooler and each week brings newer and better movies, don't forget the wonderful ones that are already in theaters. Especially don't forget "Bright Star," an exquisitely done, emotional love story that marries heartbreaking passion to formidable filmmaking restraint, all in the service of the unapologetically romantic belief in "the holiness of the heart's affections." Those words belong to John Keats, and his romance with the girl next door, Fanny Brawne, is utterly transforming in the hands of writer-director Jane Campion and stars Abbie Cornish and Ben Whishaw.

"Bright Star" satisfies a hunger we may not have known we had, a hunger for an exquisitely done, emotional love story that marries heartbreaking passion to formidable filmmaking restraint, all in the service of an unapologetically romantic belief in "the holiness of the heart's affections." The affections in question are those of the poet who wrote those words, John Keats, perhaps the greatest of England's 19th century Romantics, and Fanny Brawne, literally the girl next door. They met in 1818, when Keats was 23 and Brawne 18, a little more than two years before his dreadful death from tuberculosis.

Jane Campion has been many things, including the only woman to win the Cannes Film Festival's Palme d'Or and an inspiration, she only recently found out, to Quentin Tarantino, who confided that her success with "The Piano" emboldened him to feel "you could keep your own voice and find an audience." But she never thought she'd end up as a disappointment to the video split operator on her latest film, "Bright Star."

The 19th century gentlewoman Fanny Brawne might have been lost to history were it not for her love affair with the great romantic poet John Keats. Most certainly, Brawne would have been lost to the Twitterati generation were it not for 27-year-old Abbie Cornish's interpretation of her in Jane Campion's "Bright Star," which chronicles her attachment to Keats, who died of tuberculosis at 25. The film opens Friday. "They seemed like two peas in a pod," Cornish says of the couple. "The sense of humor, the sensitivity that was in her was also in him. That was a very rare thing to run into a man like that for her. She grew up in the country.

"You have served me camel. " "No, no, it's goat. " "It's camel," said Lucas, the driver. "Goat," said the waiter. Unconvinced, but with limited dining options, Lucas spooned meat and gristle from a silver bowl onto his rice. He ate quickly. This wasn't his kind of place, this outpost of herders, mechanics, butchers and a few Lutheran missionaries scattered at the fringe of a refugee camp. He would be here one night, then back to Nairobi. The guesthouse, where he parked his SUV behind a metal gate, seemed safe enough and the manager, a tall man with a short broom in his hands, had a reassuring, timeless face, one you could count on when darkness fell.

It's the show that everybody hears is great. But this time, someone on the Emmy nominating committee heard. Kyle Chandler and Connie Britton, the leads of the DirecTV/NBC drama "Friday Night Lights," have been delighting their small but fervent audience since the series premiered in 2006. The show takes place in the fictional town of Dillon, Texas, where football is as sacred as church and probably better attended. As Coach Eric Taylor, Chandler is only as popular as his last game; everyone in town feels the right to tell him how to do his job. Perhaps the only exception is his loving wife, Tami (Britton)

Michael Jackson's This Is It Sony, $28.96; Blu-ray, $39.95 Part performance film, part behind-the-scenes document, part memorial for a fallen star, "Michael Jackson's This Is It" compiles footage of Jackson's rehearsals for the London concerts he never staged. Fans looking for an approximation of those shows will be disappointed; "This Is It" doesn't include that many full performances of Jackson's songs. But for its rare glimpse at the star's creative process -- and its peek at how surprisingly vital Jackson looked just days before he died -- the film is invaluable.

You should be talking about: "Bright Star" If there were any justice, star Abbie Cornish would be getting an Oscar nomination for her role as the love of poet John Keats. The slow-burning romance, from director Jane Campion, has been largely overlooked this awards season. Protest by buying the DVD out this week. (Tuesday) Still talking about: "This Is It" The DVD release of the Michael Jackson concert film will include two extra documentaries going deeper into the development of what were to be the King of Pop's comeback shows.

The American Cinematheque's Egyptian Theatre celebrates the 94th birthday of the late, great Frank Sinatra with a swinging double bill tonight: 1960's " Ocean's 11" -- the first Rat Pack funfest -- which also stars Dean Martin, Sammy Davis Jr., Peter Lawford, Joey Bishop, Cesar Romero and Angie Dickinson; and 1957's Rodgers and Hart musical "Pal Joey" with Rita Hayworth and Kim Novak. The latter played at the Egyptian when it was first released. In keeping with the Rat Pack spirit, there'll also be a no-host martini bar reception before the screenings.

Just in time to refresh Oscar voters' memories, and to give people who missed it a second chance to see it on the big screen, Jane Campion's "Bright Star" returns to Los Angeles. This exquisitely done, emotional love story marries heartbreaking passion to formidable filmmaking restraint, all in the service of the unapologetically romantic belief in "the holiness of the heart's affections." Those words belong to the 19th century English poet John Keats, and his romance with the girl next door, Fanny Brawne, is utterly transforming in the hands of writer-director Campion and stars Abbie Cornish and Ben Whishaw.

The bright star nearly overhead at 9 p.m. is Arcturus, in Bootes the Bear Herder. Arcturus is a giant yellow star 20 times the diameter and 110 times the luminosity of our sun. It is the closest giant star to Earth, about 37 light-years away. * Source: John Mosley, Griffith Observatory

Every year, the ranks of Oscar nominees are filled with actors who spend months perfecting their accents and practicing their gestures to deliver note-perfect interpretations of historical figures, and their efforts tend to pay off. Seven of the last eight top acting awards have gone to actors doing their best to raise the dead. On paper, Paul Schneider's turn as Charles Armitage Brown in Jane Campion's "Bright Star" fits the criteria nicely. The story, which centers on the romantic poet John Keats, his friend and patron Brown, and Keats' lover, Fanny Brawne, is drawn from history, and Schneider transformed his body to fit the part, gaining a substantial potbelly, growing a thick beard and adopting a light Scottish brogue.

With 10 nominees for best picture instead of the usual five, this may be the most exciting Oscar derby in many years. And the most suspenseful. No current academy members can remember what it was like the last time there was so much competition -- 66 years ago. But that doesn't mean some of them weren't around! BEST PICTURE Front-runners "Avatar" "An Education" "The Hurt Locker" "Inglourious Basterds" "Invictus" "Julie & Julia" "The Lovely Bones" "Nine" "Precious: Based on the Novel 'Push' by Sapphire" "The Road" "A Serious Man" "Star Trek" "Up" "Up in the Air" Spotlight: "Precious" looks like this year's "Slumdog Millionaire."