Video of Jake outside Letterman, and Rendition makes you sweat, cry and scream

When Jake Gyllenhaal was a guest on the David Letterman Show a month ago he walked in wearing his smart suit and came out as casual as the Jake we know and love. This before and after was captured on a fun video which you can watch here (click 'Watch flash preview'). I've highlighted two scenes here, bcause they made me feel good for some reason. In the first picture we see Jake exchanging a smile with his bodyguard while in the second we see the BG putting himself between Jake and the traffic. I like this man, who also earned a hug from the lucky lady that we have often seen accompanying Jake to such events as the BAFTAs, Cannes and Toronto.




Rendition 'makes you feel what they feel'

It turns out that Lions for Lambs has not done so well at the box office either, taking under $7 million on its opening weekend. One would have thought that if a single film about the war in Iraq and the war on terror would have put bums on seats, it would have been this, with the heavy muscle of Robert Redford and Tom Cruise behind it. But no. This supports the opinion, expressed by Jake, that people would prefer not to know what is going on and films such as Rendition hold no interest for them. Nevertheless, good reviews of Rendition are out there and many journalists and commentators have urged audiences to see this film.


The San Antonio Express has this powerful statement about Rendition: 'Some movies are irrelevant, a collection of images as fleeting as the box of popcorn on your lap. Others grab you by the scruff of the neck, forcing you to see, think and feel. They stay with you long past the closing credits... "Rendition, " which stars Jake Gyllenhaal and Reese Witherspoon, is one of the latter. It is hard to watch, harder to digest. Like all great movies, it transports you to the screen where the characters live and breathe; it makes you feel what they feel... As the blurbs say, the movie comes straight from the headlines, but the headlines are not as gut-wrenching as this film. The stories give you the details, many of them horrific, but they do not make you sweat or cry or scream. "Rendition" does, if only psychologically, if only internally.'


The San Francisco Chronicle (just the name of this paper puts a Zodiac smile on my face) had this to say: 'An after-burn remains in "Rendition," too - in the images of torture the viewer can't forget, the imploded guilt in Gyllenhaal's face and the volcanic conflicts of a North African police chief (Igal Naor) torn by duty, culture and family. The wheels of this movie grind at times, as they do, albeit in different ways, in "The Kingdom." But "Rendition" is finally a more truthful, open-eyed work.'


So what's Maggie been up to?

It's been a while since we've seen Maggie here, but she continues to do work for charities, including the Clothes off Our Back charity, to which she donated her dress from the Oscars. Here you can read the account of the person fortunate enough to buy this beautiful dress. On Thursday night, a beautiful Maggie was attending a dinner at the Longchamp boutique in Soho, NYC, to celebrate Longchamp's collboration with the bag designer Michel Gaubert.


Includes pictures from IHJ.