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The first edition of Complete Idiot's Guide to Bridge by H. Anthony Medley was the fastest selling beginning bridge book, going through more than 10 printings. This updated Second Edition includes some modern advanced bidding systems and conventions, like Two over One, a system used by many modern tournament players, Roman Key Card Blackwood, New Minor Forcing, Reverse Drury, Forcing No Trump, and others. Also included is a detailed Guide to Bids and Responses, along with the most detailed, 12-page Glossary ever published, as well as examples to make learning the game even easier. Click book to order. | |
| Slumdog Millionaire (7/10) by Tony Medley Run Time 120 minutes. This is an inventively told movie written by Simon Beaufoy from the novel by Vikas Swarup and directed by Danny Boyle that uses the Hindi version of “Who Wants to be a Millionaire” to show what life can be like in modern India. Jamal Malik (Dev Patel) is orphaned with his older brother, Salim (Madhur Mittal), when a child. They hook up with another orphan, a young girl, Latika (Freida Pinto), and the way they survive is brutal. Jamal tells the story to a police detective who doesn’t believe that he can know the answers to all the questions on the show and tortures him before the final question to get him to admit he’s cheating. So he tells his story, explaining how he got to know the answers to each of the questions, and that is the basis of the film. The plot really isn’t whether or not Jamal is going to win the money, it’s about how and why he got where he is. All three characters are played by three different actors, all at different ages. I finally saw the film at the UA in Marina del Rey. The color and sharpness were atrocious. I’m assuming that this was the fault of the theater and not of the filmmakers, because all the trailers that were showed before the film (20 minutes of trailers, which should be a felony) were equally dim. This is a pretty interesting film, interestingly told, although I thought the first hour was ponderous and difficult to endure. It did pick up during the last hour when all the people had achieved adulthood and we weren’t dealing with small children. Jamal’s infatuation with Latika is a little hard to buy, considering the minimal contact that we are shown them having. However, he made a good pick because by the time she turns into Freida Pinto, she is beautiful. The best part of the movie is the way it shows
what life is like in It’s an entertaining movie, but Oscar®-quality? With apologies to John McEnroe, you cannot be serious.
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