Word: ardor
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...ardor that Law elicits has not been dampened at all by the frequency with which he plays bad guys--from the careless, egocentric Dickie Greenleaf in The Talented Mr. Ripley (dispatched by the oar) to the creepily murderous Maguire in Road to Perdition (the shootout). There's a troubled, sometimes even unwholesome streak that runs through all Law's characters--even Jerome, the athlete whose identity Ethan Hawke's character assumes in Gattaca (the garbage disposal). It's as if Law, who has the green eyes, long lashes and aqueduct eyebrows of a very pretty girl, has been...
...Last Samurai is a cliché wrapped in a stereotype, with the entire endeavor ultimately resting on the filmmakers’ belief that their audience will swallow the movie with the unthinking ardor of a sumo wrestler breaking fast at a sushi bar. Lush cinematography aside, The Last Samurai resounds as a rant (produced in Hollywood!) against the ills of globalization. The movie’s white characters are essentially portrayed as terrorists, and Cruise’s character can be redeemed only after he rejects his western thinking and dress (though he ultimately proves his superiority to the Japanese...
...under arrest, they come from the country's volatile southeast, near the border with Iraq, known for its Kurdish separatists and Islamic extremists. Although a few Islamic militant groups have been around for years, Turkish authorities considered them a spent force. But the turmoil in Iraq has revived their ardor. Local extremists, says Mehmet Farac, who has written several books on Turkish militants, want to resurrect themselves, and al-Qaeda's expertise can help them...
...Bush's ardor for the topic grew during a trip to Japan last month. He told aides that if Japan, which had little or no experience with democracy before World War II, could embrace the system, so could the people of the Middle East. The speech, written by Michael Gerson, went through 10 drafts, with input from Condoleezza Rice and other national-security aides. All were aware that Bush's words would implicitly criticize his father's Administration, among others, for its support of dictatorships: "Sixty years of excusing and accommodating ... did nothing to make us safe." After delivering...
...once harnessed and released in a role that should earn the actor the stardom predicted since his supporting role in High Fidelity. Preening and wheedling, playing to the camera like Mick Jagger to a microphone, Black gives this unaffected, four-on-the-floor In-School Special the ardor, and innocence, of that old-time rock 'n' roll. --By Richard Corliss