Dan Webster

Ovidiu Balan in "Mondo."

One of the great love stories, tradition tells us, is the tale of Queen Victoria and her dead prince. Albert had the bad manners to die in 1861, some 21 years after the pair had married. As for Victoria, she had the misfortune to live another 40 years, as a result becoming the longest-ruling British monarch. At least that's what we've always been told, that Victoria outliving her dear departed Albert was misfortune of the harshest sort.

No caption - Sylvester Stallone in Cop Land

1. No caption - Demi Moore in G.I. Jane 2. Demi Moore is Lt. Jordan O'Neil, who runs into resistance from every quarter as she strives to be the first female Navy SEAL.

Here's what I know about alpacas: Alpacas are cousins to the llama, guanaco and vicuna, members of the camelid family. Baby alpacas weigh 15 pounds at birth. Cria is the name for baby alpacas. Diets for alpacas consist of pasture grasses.

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Christopher Guest as Corky in the wry send-up of community theater, "Waiting for Guffman."

Perry Sellars and Arthur Pape in "Love! Valour! Compassion!"

Tamiyo Kusakari in Masayuki Suo's "Shall We Dance?"

Josh Hofer puts the finishing touches on the floor at one of the 12 theaters at the new Spokane Valley 12 Cinemas. Stadium seating should offer a great view from any seat. Photo by Colin Mulvany/The Spokesman-Review

Novice writers usually don't attract a lot of attention. Thomas Lion is unique in this respect. Not only has he been the subject of news stories, he already has two books to his name. Lion, who lives in Hawaii, has written "Chelan" (Leobrand Books, 418 pages, $14 paperback, ISBN 0-9658515-0-8), a roman a clef set in the Pacific Northwest that involves "a struggling writer with a haunted past."

Finn Taylor wasn't sure what to expect from his first college poetry class. If he'd known what he was getting into, he might have been intimidated. The class, or rather the teacher, ended up changing his perspective on life. This was in the mid-1970s. Taylor, then an undergraduate at the University of Montana in Missoula, was years away from being a writer/ director of such films as "Dream With the Fishes" - which is now playing at the Lincoln Heights Cinemas.

It doesn't take a degree in sociology to see where our fast-food culture wants to take us. Our intended destination is a frame of mind. It's a place where instant gratification is considered not just a commodity but a right. Want to lose weight? Someone will sell you a plan whereby you can eat all you want and still lose 10 pounds a week. Need to make money? Shelves are packed with books that promise to make you a millionaire by age 30.

Obsessive personalities can be and often are difficult to live with. But as "Children of the Revolution" indicates, they make the best revolutionaries. Written and directed by Peter Duncan, this Australian mock documentary concerns Joan Fraser (Judy Davis), an unrepentant Communist of the old school. While other people are involved with the mundane activities of life, Joan fills her waking moments attending political meetings, handing out leaflets, marching and, when needed, going to jail. So taken with the notion of traditional Bolshevism that she virtually deifies Joseph Stalin (played broadly, if briefly, by F. Murray Abraham), Joan is delighted when she is invited to Moscow for a face-to-face meeting with the Soviet leader.

Gong Li in Chen Kaige's "Temptress Moon."

Madonna looks the part of Evita Peron and sings adequately well in "Evita."

David Arquette as Terry in "Dream With the Fishes."

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Blame it on Billy Bob Thornton. Roger Paulson does. Not that the writer/director/star of "Sling Blade" is directly involved in the format change that will take place at the Lincoln Heights Cinemas beginning Aug. 15. But Thornton and his alternative-film peers definitely will benefit from the fact the four-screen complex at Lincoln Heights - the only movie house on Spokane's South Hill - no longer will show first-run mainstream films. Instead of, say, "Spawn," "Air Bud" and "My Best Friend's Wedding," the Lincoln Heights will show a varied schedule of alternative films - art and/or foreign product - such as "Dream With the Fishes" (which opens Friday), "The Van," "Career Girls" and "In the Company of Men" (directed by former Spokane resident Neil LaBute).

You've already missed out on the chance to win several thousand dollars. But if you're even the slightest inclined to use the Internet, you can still get in on the action. And maybe earn as much as $100,000 in the process. The contest is sponsored by Amazon.com which bills itself as the Earth's Biggest Bookstore and claims to be the leading online retailer of books. The requirements are simple. Amazon.com convinced noted author John Updike to write the beginning of an original story titled "Murder Makes the Magazine." That first paragraph went online on Tuesday.

(photo of a scene from "Air Force One")

As if bargain prices aren't enough of a draw, Don Clifton hopes that free popcorn and drinks will attract moviegoers to the new Coeur d'Alene Discount Cinemas during this weekend's grand opening. "We're real decent folk," Clifton says with a laugh. Market smart, too. His four-screen movie complex, which is located in the new Prairie Avenue Shopping Center (at the corner of Prairie and Highway 95) is Coeur d'Alene's first discount theater.

Ewan McGregor and Vivian Wu in Peter Greenaway's "Pillow Book."

Tim Allen gives us his own version of "Crocodile Dundee" in "Jungle 2 Jungle."