A great film and a tragic loss

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I don't pretend to be a film critic of any sort (I actually liked the "Saturday Night Live"-derived, cornball flick "MacGruber," if that tells you anything) but I get excited anytime a movie completely bowls me over and comes across as an instant classic. An example of this from a few years back would be Martin Scorsese's "The Departed." And an even more recent example would be "El secreto de sus ojos" released in the U.S. as "The Secret in Their Eyes." Receiving this year's Oscar for best foreign film, I decided to see this movie, sort of last minute, at the Terrace Theater on James Island, and I've been raving about it since. This Argentinean flick is actually two movies: one of the best detective mysteries you've ever seen combined with one of the best love stories you've ever seen. It avoids the cliches of both genres and tackles the meaning of life, love, revenge and regret at a deeper, more substantive level than most films. Sitting in the theater that evening, the movie even helped clarify an ongoing personal dilemma. How often does a movie do that? "MacGruber" didn't do that. Unfortunately, your last chance to see "The Secret in Their Eyes" at the Terrace is today. After that, go rent or even buy the DVD. You'll be glad you did.

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I never meant for this to become an obituary column (I noted the passing of metal legend Ronnie James Dio last week), but the deaths of Dennis Hopper and Gary Coleman shouldn't go unmentioned. Perhaps known best for 1969's "Easy Rider," for some reason I first remember Hopper as the crazy, revenge-seeking cowboy in 1986's "Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2." Hopper's films are too many to list here, but he unquestionably made an indelible mark on our popular culture and will be missed. The same goes for Coleman, the former "Diff'rent Strokes" star whose acting career didn't hold a candle to Hopper's, but who nevertheless became a part of our pop-culture fabric with his famous catchphrase "What'chu talkin' about, Willis?" and other campy antics in later years. Now, many in the original cast of "Diff'rent Strokes" have passed -- "Arnold" (Coleman), and "Kimberly" (Dana Plato). Only "Willis" (Todd Bridges) remains of the sitcom's main child actors.