Check It. Shutter Island on DVD.

Scorsese. DiCaprio. Ruffalo. Kingsley. There is some big (an understatement) talent in 'Shutter Island', all working on a story written by the man--Dennis Lehane--also behind 'Mystic River' and 'Gone, Baby, Gone'.

Leonardo DiCaprio gives an amazing performance as US Marshal Teddy Daniels, Ruffalo is a perfect sidekick, and Ben Kingsley plays the bad guy eerily well.

I saw this in the theater, but will watch it again at home. While I wasn't crazy about the ending (which I obviously won't reveal here), it doesn't make the whole movie a bust, because it was thoroughly entertaining the whole way through.

-- Leslie Anne Wiggins

Photo credit: filmofilia.com

Advance Notice. Martin Scorsese at LACMA.

Martin Scorsese (Taxi Driver, Raging Bull, The Color of Money, Goodfellas, Casino, Gangs of New York, The Aviator, The Departed ... ) is championing a cause--film preservation. During the summer, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art-LACMA announced the planned end of their weekend film program--or at least an indefinite break from it due to lost funds. Scorsese wrote an open letter to LACMA CEO Michael Govan, which resulted in an outpouring of community support for the program. A Film Club is now in place, and the announcement of it's inception resulted in $150,000 in donations, as well as the $50 fee for each new member who joins.

Now the New York Academy Award winner is headed to the West Coast to give us some more of his thoughts on the matter.

The legendary director will be in conversation with Govan at LACMA on January 20 at 7:30 p.m. I know those of you who have 2010 calendars are just dying to mark them up with January plans, so write down January 4 as the on sale date (as well as of course the 20th).

LACMA is located at 5905 Wilshire Blvd. in Los Angeles - (323) 857-6000

-- Leslie Anne Wiggins

Photo credit: www.listal.com