Charms

TUCSON - Tourism officials here have long lured visitors and their dollars to the region with images of fantastic desert sunsets, wellness resorts and endless nature trails. But to entice their most prized foreign visitors, they tout great shopping at good prices. Louis Vuitton, Dillard's and Apple attract Tucson's neighbors in Mexico, who account for nearly 68% of its international tourists. For decades, millions of Mexican shoppers from neighboring Sonora and Sinaloa have trekked to Arizona for a full day, and sometimes a long weekend, dedicated to buying clothes, electronics and other goods.

The South Korean import "Whatcha Wearin'?" is as sweet and silly and, at times, raunchy as any Hollywood-hatched romantic comedy. Still, even if it's not all that distinguishable from its stateside brethren, the film manages enough sparkly charm and warm comedy to offer a few hours of featherweight fun. The meet-cute here between the recently dumped Hyun-Seung (Ji Sung) and the long-partnered Yun-jung (Kim Ah-joong) involves an accidental phone sex session that's contrived, but also amusing and sexy.

It was a stormy fall day a year ago when I met my friend Dave for coffee. He in turn had invited another of his friends to join us. The two men had just returned from a European trek, London to Croatia. I was surprised by Dave's friend. He was about 33, an incredibly handsome photographer with charm and confidence that made it clear he came from money. We matched wits with one another, an exchange that ended with seductive eye glances. After we left, I told Dave I was interested.

As sisters who are involved with musicians and facing turning points that feel far less momentous than they're meant to be, charismatic performers Lizzy Caplan and Alison Brie lend the lightweight rom-com "Save the Date" more than its fair share of watchability. But the film is never truly interesting. Caplan, who played a more acerbic version of her role here in "Bachelorette," is the relationship-averse Sarah, one of those quirky, nonsuffering artists who, naturally, is about to have her first solo show.

Scottish-born actor Robert Carlyle may be familiar to some thanks to his current role on the American TV show "Once Upon a Time," but for other fans he'll always be known best for his hard-drinking, hard-fighting part in the 1996 film "Trainspotting. " His role in the new "California Solo" plays well off that iconography, as the film casts Carlyle as a former mid-level, mid-'90s Britpop star now working in self-imposed anonymity on an organic farm in California. Written and directed by Marshall Lewy, the film is for most of its running a quietly controlled character study of a man working hard at being low-key.

In 36 intense rounds against Manny Pacquiao, Juan Manuel Marquez has been knocked down and bloodied, angered and heartbroken. Yet, the 39-year-old from Mexico remains proud and defiant as he prepares to fight Pacquiao for a fourth time Saturday on pay-per-view at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas. Their three battles — 108 minutes of fighting — have been "decided" by a 2004 draw, a 2008 split-decision won by Pacquiao and last year's majority decision claimed by the Filipino superstar.

An epic love story, like a good horror movie, relies more on possibility than actuality. Surprise and anticipation, of what is to come and what it might mean, are what draw viewers in, binding them in fetters of pleasure and pain. Subtlety and nuance create the space between word and glance, between shadow and revelation, where imagination digs in and magnificence blooms. None of which happens, in any way, shape or form, during Lifetime's television event "Liz & Dick," a wildly graceless biopic that careens through the decades-long relationship between Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton with more petulance than passion, knocking down gin bottles and rumpling silk sheets for no better reason than that's what it says to do in the script.

QUITO, Ecuador - "Not long ago, we wouldn't think of coming to this area," Dominic Hamilton tells me as we stand on a street corner in Quito's historic area at 1 a.m. "It was horribly seedy. And dangerous. " Hamilton is a Brit who, after having spent many years writing guidebooks on South America, fell for an Ecuadorean woman and her country and made a life here. That was nine years ago. "Old Quito is one of the most beautiful cities in the world," he continues. "But it had become a shabby shadow of its former self - with drug dealers, thieves and other illicit industries.

On a recent train trip through Vermont to enjoy the fall colors, my husband and I stayed at the 1868 Crosby House, a B&B in Brattleboro. It was wonderful! The Italianate Victorian home is clean, charming and within walking distance of town. Rooms were lovely, with bathrooms and fireplaces, and the owners, Lynn and Richard Kuralt, were friendly and helpful. There are nine miles of woodland trails behind the house, which provided much-needed exercise after our hostess fed us delicious gourmet breakfasts and afternoon teas.

Steven Spielberg's "Lincoln" has the pedigree, star power and advertising campaign of a masterpiece -- so what could possibly distract from the 16th president's big-screen treatment? Oprah Winfrey, of course. The mogul quietly attended the film's world premiere in Hollywood on Thursday, where Spielberg presented the film as the closing night gala for AFI Fest. PHOTOS: 'Lincoln' premiere at AFI Fest Showing off an hourglass figure in a velvet sleeveless gown, one that will surely captivate in her forthcoming acting effort "The Butler" from Lee Daniels, Winfrey hit Grauman's Chinese Theatre with a female pal to catch Daniel Day-Lewis' turn as Abe. And was she ever the Oprah we love -- arms spread open giving giant hugs to the likes of Tommy Lee Jones and producer Kathleen Kennedy, chatting near her seat while rows and rows of moviegoers buzzed about her presence.