'Easy Virtue'
With her toothpaste-ad grin and strapping physique, Jessica Biel stands out from her castmates in "Easy Virtue" like a sunflower in a patch of violets. The tale, freely adapted from a 1924 Noël Coward comedy of manners, casts Biel as Larita, a Detroit race car driver who roars into an aristocratic English family. Larita sets out to charm her in-laws (Colin Firth and Kristin Scott-Thomas), and if that fails, she'll give as good as she gets. The filmmakers keep the spirit of Coward while energetically reworking the story with contemporary touches that would fit neatly in a "Meet the Parents" spinoff. Coward might not recognize his massively reworked play, but he'd probably approve. After all, the story is all about breaking with stifling traditions and embracing the exciting possibilities of modern times. That's precisely what this cheeky adaptation achieves. (Rated PG-13.)
- Colin Covert
'Little Ashes'
This trifling historical fantasy is set in an imaginary Madrid, circa 1922. At the university, ideas and emotions are roiling the lives of three friends who will grow into important creative forces: painter Salvador Dali, poet Federico GarcÃa Lorca and filmmaker Luis Buñuel. Throw in rumors of an affair between Dali and GarcÃa Lorca, a disaffected Buñuel departing for Paris with Dali soon following, a heartbroken GarcÃa Lorca struggling with his sexual orientation and you have some idea of the many loose threads that filmmaker Paul Morrison tries in vain to stitch into whole cloth. Robert Pattinson ("Twilight) is a strange, shy Dali who turns up all in ruffles and velvet. But he's a quick study, and soon he's fashioned himself into something modern and unique. This is a trick that fails Pattinson, who is more parody than performance. (Rated R.)
- Betsy Sharkey, Los Angeles Times
Minnesota Sports Hall of Fame: A class-by-class list of all members
This retired journalist changed professional wrestling from Mankato
