You're probably thinking you don't need another documentary about the Iraq War. But you're wrong, because Alex Gibney's Taxi to the Dark Side is finally being released, and the film is one of three necessary docs dealing with Iraq. The triad, which would make a great box set if only the same company distributed all three films, also includes Charles Ferguson's very highly acclaimed Sundance jury-award-winner No End in Sight (on which Gibney was a producer) and Patricia Foulkrod's under-appreciated 2006 work The Ground Truth: After the Killing Ends.

What do they have in common? Well, if you put them together and watch them all, you'll feel like an expert on three important aspects of the war and its most significant repercussions. They may not tell you everything there is to know about the Iraq War, but they're more thorough and informative than most. No End in Sight is the most directly involved with the actual conflict, from its causes to its effects (read Kim's review here). The Ground Truth more specifically deals with the American soldiers, but in an all-encompassing, training-to-homecoming portrait of modern combat and its consequences (see my review here). Taxi to the Dark Side is sort of like a flip side to that film, though it doesn't necessarily focus on the enemy combatants. Instead it deals with suspected enemies, soldiers or otherwise, who are held and oftentimes tortured in prisons such as Iraq's Abu Ghraib.

Taxi to the Dark Side somewhat falls outside the box (set), though, in that it really isn't about Iraq. In fact, Gibney insists that his documentary is not an 'Iraq film.' Yes, it does feature a lot of details about, and footage of, Iraq's Abu Ghraib, which is probably the best-known prison of its kind, but it also prominently features Bagram, in Afghanistan, and Guantanamo Bay, the two other facilities used in the detention and interrogation of individuals presumed to be involved with Al-Qaeda, the Iraqi insurgency or any other enemy of the U.S. in its "War on Terror."

There have been countless debates about which James Bond is best, and as we saw from Kevin's post last November, the fans are all in disagreement. But those who side with Sean Connery can now celebrate a scientifically conclusive victory over the others, since a computer has apparently proved that the first Bond was the true Bond. Two U.K. psychologists -- one based in Scotland and one based in England, in case you think there's regional bias -- produced a composite image using a prototyping technique on a computer, and of all the Bond actors the image most resembles Connery.

The funny thing is, according to their procedure, the psychologists' proof is incorrect. Maybe they should have stressed that Connery is the closest thing to a real Bond ever portrayed in an official 007 film, because the real movie Bond would have to be David Niven, who plays the character in the parodic adaptation Casino Royale (the 1967 one). See, the composite image was made by feeding the computer pictures of other actors who Bond author Ian Fleming had said in 1961 had a facial structure similar to what he imagined for the character. Those actors were Stewart Granger, Richard Burton, Patrick McGoohan, James Mason, Rex Harrison, Cary Grant and, yes, David Niven. Considering the fact that McGoohan is still alive, there is still time for a tie, but I'll go ahead and crown Niven with the honor despite what a computer tells me. Either way, though, one important thing the composite seemed to indicate is that Daniel Craig is the furthest of all from being the true Bond.

According to Bottlegreen Drinks Co., the most beautiful British woman of all-time is Gone with the Wind star Vivien Leigh. Okay, I imagine you American readers are now wondering, "What is Bottlegreen Drinks Co. and what do they have to do with the movies?" Unfortunately, I can't really give any answers. I'd never heard of Bottlegreen before this news, either, and a quick glance at their website doesn't have me going, "ooooooh, they make _____." As for their expertise on surveys about British celebrity, I can't find a thing.

Nonetheless, the company apparently polled 1,000 men and women, and Leigh, who died nearly forty years ago, topped the list of British beauties. And what about the most handsome British man, you ask? Well, that would be Cary Grant, whose popularity still astounds me (even though he's grown on me, if only because he appears in so many great films), particularly in the looks department (that hair and butt-chin are awful!). If women aren't ignoring his voice when they claim the attraction, then I give up trying to figure out what women want. Unfortunately, the reports of this news don't include a full list of the male runners-up. As for the other nine ladies who followed in the top ten, you can check them out after the jump.

I don't know about you, but when I think of a movie, set in the 1940s, about a man who cheats on his wife and decides the best solution is to kill her, rather than force her to go through the "shame of a divorce," I think satirical, Cary Grant-starring screwball comedy. Now, as far as I know, Cary never plotted to kill any of his movie wives, but that plot fits him perfectly, doesn't it? He'd be perpetually exasperated at the wife's ability to unknowingly avoid countless attempts to end her life, and everything about the movie would make it clear that his character is a (lovable, dapper) moron.

I bring this up because that very story is about to be brought to the big screen by Ira Sachs, who also wrote the screenplay (he did the same double-duty on last year's inexplicably praised Forty Shades of Blue). Here's the one big difference (apart from the fact that my fantasy star is long-dead): Sachs' film, entitled Marriage, is a drama. Wha? So, he's going to make a serious movie about a guy sincerely trying to spare his wife by killing her? That sounds ... interesting. I guess. Maybe they're setting it in the 1940s so that the period atmosphere will make his actions seem rational, or something.

In talks to star in the film are Pierce Brosnan, Chris Cooper, Rachel McAdams (She better be a freaking daughter, and not the girlfriend -- is she even half Brosnan's age?), and Patricia Clarkson; Sachs hopes to begin shooting in a few months.

One of my all-time favorite films is the 1938 version of Holiday, the lesser-known of two movies adapted from Philip Barry plays that starred Katharine Hepburn and Cary Grant. The better-known film is The Philadelpha Story, which was filmed a couple of years later. I like Holiday better; it's less talky and artificial. The story—about a hard-working man who wants to quit big business after he earns enough money to support himself (and maybe a wife) so he can have a holiday and see what's going on in the world—isn't dated and in fact seems quite relevant today. The publicity shot above doesn't quite reflect the relationship Grant and Hepburn's characters share in the film: he's engaged to her sister, and she's the black sheep of her wealthy old family.

Holiday has been released on DVD in the U.S. for the first time on Tuesday as part of The Cary Grant Box Set from Sony. I hope it also will receive a single-disc release in this country soon. I've been waiting for years and years for an American DVD release for this movie, so you know exactly how I'm spending my entertainment-budget money this week. I am crossing my fingers for a decent DVD transfer. (Now, if only I could get the chance to see the 1930 adaptation of Holiday ... but since the only print is in the Library of Congress, I won't hold my breath.)

 
It's Irene Dunne day on TCM, and whilst I'm happy enough to see My Favorite Wife and Theodora Goes Wild, where is The Awful Truth? Leo McCarey's masterpiece marriage comedy stars Dunne and Cary Grant as a couple that just can't quite seem to stay away from each other, even though they're very nearly divorced. Even though Mae West would like to take all kinds of credit for his career, this is the film that really made Grant a leading man star. Go forth and Netflix the hell out of it.

More and more films are falling out of copyright and into the public domain. I'm going to watch them all on the internet, and then I am going to tell you about them.

His Girl Friday has never been my favorite of the five or six masterpiece comedies Cary Grant made from about 1937 to around 1942 - it doesn't have the class-clash dynamics of Bringing up Baby, or the just-barely-repressed post-Code chemical sexiness of The Awful Truth - but still, it's one of those sex-and-pizza things, where even when it's not quite as good as it could be, it's still pretty damn great.