Philip Seymour Hoffman, George Clooney, Gwyneth Paltrow, and Johnny Depp. I will watch almost any movie these actors are in. When I first saw Cate Blanchett in Elizabeth I was stunned by her performance. But when I watched Cate Blanchett in The Gift, I added Cate to that list above. The Gift was a small film that moved beneath most people’s radar even though it was directed by Sam Raimi and starred Cate (of course), Giovanni Ribisi, Keanu Reeves, Katie Holmes, Hilary Swank, and Greg Kinnear. Cate Blanchett plays a poor Southern woman, Annabelle “Annie” Wilson, who has powers, real Powers. She’s asked to use her extrasensory perception to find a missing woman. The ending is weak, but no matter. What matters is Cate Blanchett’s utterly convincing portrayal of a poor Southern woman with “The Gift.” If you haven’t seen this gem of a movie, you can buy it at Sam’s Club now for $4.86.

Padma Lakshmi, Tom Colicchio, and a bevy of celebrity chefs (Wolfgang Puck in this first episode) get to torture (and eliminate one by one) a new bunch of wannabes in this new season of Top Chef. I don’t usually watch reality TV shows, but Top Chef has a special appeal. The food challenges are interesting and the producers constantly throw curves at the contestants. BRAVO replays these programs endlessly so if you miss an episode, it’s easy to get caught up. I think Padma should be given a bigger role.

There’s not much plot to Julie & Julia, but with Meryl Streep channeling Julia Child and Amy Adams at her elfin cutest, who cares? Nora Ephron’s movie bounces back and forth from Julia Child’s search to dispel the boredom of being the lanky wife to a U. S. diplomat in Paris and Julie’s search to find something to give her life meaning. Both women come to the same conclusion: cooking. Julia Child learns how to cook French food and writes a legendary cookbook. Decades later, Julie starts blogging and decides to cook all 524 recipes in Mastering the Art of French Cooking in 365 days. The characters never meet. There’s no suspense. The biggest surprise is that Julia Child and her husband (played winningly by Stanley Tucci) live into their 90’s despite all the butter in Child’s recipes. GRADE: B

This is the bargain you Sherlockians have been waiting for: the 2-volume set of The Annotated Sherlock Holmes (Leslie S. Klinger, editor) for $19.98. AMAZON wants $59.85 for the hardcover set. And AMAZON is charging $26.37 for Volume One and $28.43 for Volume Two separately! Once again, Daedalus Books makes it irresistible to buy these wonderful volumes (1878 pages!) at this rock-bottom price. Just go to www.salebooks.com to place your order. The Annotated Sherlock Holmes is essential to any serious library. Every home should have a set.

A couple weeks ago, Diane and I (along with our friends Cindy and Tom) took a road trip to Cape Cod. When the rest of the group hit the shops, I’d hit the bookstores. I didn’t have much luck in Hyannis or Provincetown. However, I struck the mother lode at the Wellfleet Bookstore & Restaurant just a few miles away from our house in Truro. It’s an old time bookstore with plenty of magazines and hardcover books, not just paperbacks. I immediately found two Jack Woodford hardcovers. In the Children’s section, I found a Ken Holt novel. I grabbed a couple fistfuls of SF and mystery paperbacks. I even found an issue of MANHUNT! Unfortunately, the group was waiting for me so we could have dinner in the excellent restaurant or I might have bought many more books. If you’re in the Wellfleet area, you need to stop at the Bookstore & Restaurant (http:\\wellfleetoyster.com) and find some treasures of your own.

MAD MEN (and women) starts its third season tonight. The year is 1963. MAD MEN still blends advertising and soap opera in unique ways. Patti Abbott mentioned MAD MEN might have the best ensemble cast on TV. I can’t agree more. Jon Hamm as Don Draper lives a life based on identity theft. His troubled marriage fuels several other plot lines. Christina Hendricks, who plays the sexy redhead office manager Joan Holloway, is in an abusive relationship. Elizabeth Moss as the secretive Peggy Olson, is my favorite character. She’s a woman working in a male-dominated profession and she beats the guys at their own game. My only wish is that the episodes would spend more time on the actual production of advertising as the series did in the First Season. But that’s a minor quibble. If you haven’t been watching this series, you’re missing the best program on TV.

District 9 features a massive starship hovering over Johannesburg. When humans enter the mothership, they find a crew of aliens (nicknamed “prawns”) malnourished and helpless. The government sets up a settlement (i.e., slum) named DISTRICT 9 for the prawns. Twenty years later, the mothership is still hovering over the city, but the prawns have become outcasts and are abused by humans. The government decides to transfer the prawns to a new settlement away from Johannesburg. And that’s when the human bureaucrat in charge of the resettlement accidentally exposes himself to an alien substance. To his horror, the bureaucrat discovers he’s slowly transforming into a prawn. And, with that mix of human and prawn DNA, the bureaucrat is now able to operate the advanced alien weapons. Governments and greedy corporations want the secrets of the alien technology and are willing to “experiment” with our poor bureaucrat (and the prawns) to gain those secrets. There’s plenty of gunplay and suspense and a few surprises. Great special effects! I really enjoyed this movie! GRADE: A-

Clark Ashton Smith wrote incredible tales, mostly for Weird Tales, in the 1930s. Most of these stories have been out-of-print for years. Night Shade Books has done a wonderful job restoring these classics. The Maze of the Enchanter is the fourth volume of Clark Ashton Smith short stories to appear in as many years. Edited by Scott Connors and Ron Hilger, many of these stories are appearing in their original form for the first time (they were heavily edited when first published). “Genius Loci,” “The Dark Eidolon,” and “The Weaver in the Vaults” and 17 other stories are included in this volume. The restorations show the full brilliance of Clark Ashton Smith’s unique style in these tales. Gahan Wilson provides an insightful INTRODUCTION. If you love great writing and tales with a sense of wonder, The Maze of the Enchanter delivers.

You can read Basic Black as a personal history of publishing or you can read it as a management text. Either way, there are plenty of insights to be gained here. Cathie Black heads Hearst Magazines, including COSMOPOLITAN, ESQUIRE, GOOD HOUSEKEEPING, HARPER’S BAZAAR and O, THE OPRAH MAGAZINE. Cathie was the first woman publisher of a weekly consumer magazine when took over in 1979. She has also president of USA TODAY. So on one level, you read about the evolution (or deevolution) over the publishing industry. On another level, Cathie Black tells you how she achieved management success when women were basically serfs. I enjoyed this engaging book. GRADE: B+

Bernard Cornwell’s Sharpe series has always been a favorite of mine. It features a rogue British officer who moves up the ranks of Wellington’s army through guile and courage. In the BBC version, Sharpe is well played by Sean Bean. His Sharpe confronts the rigors of warfare in the battles of the Napoleonic Wars leading up to Waterloo. The complete box set of the Sharpe series (15 DVDs) is going for $313.99 on AMAZON. If you have a BJ’s Warehouse near you, you can find the Sharpe series (3 DVDs each) selling for $24.99 per set! That’s the compete set for $125. Don’t miss this bargain. It won’t last for long.