Style Sunday.

The British were coming at an event held by BAFTA last night in Los Angeles. His royal highness Prince William, who also happens to be President of BAFTA (as if being a future king wasn't cool enough...) attended with his wife, Kate Middleton. Of course, she looked stunning but I keep wondering, where the hell does she find all these wholesome looking Alexander McQueen gowns?

This lavender creation is of course the epitome of classiness but would it kill her to try something a little bit more aggressive and McQueen-ish? Those odd little hats don't count.

Mary Louise-Parker brought her relaxed hippie-ness to the royal table in this cherry Dolce & Gabbana gown. Considering it lacks some oomph for a royal shindig, it's lovely to see her preserve her quirkiness.

Excuse me for saying this but royals should be bowing down to her royal majesty of actressing Nicole Kidman. I love how with the years she's adjusting herself to more sober, but still terrific, looks and how lovely her smile has become with each passing year. This Ellie Saab gown isn't a scene-stealer but Nicole must know that at a royal party, you are not supposed to overshadow the future queen. This well thought dress and demure style make her even more majestic.

Ooh-la-la, god only knows why Blake Lively gets invited to all these amazing red carpets, or perhaps he does, and the reason is merely because she always looks fantastic. This flowy Marchesa gown goes against everything Blake has us used to. Oh no, no boobs or legs! But with the see through loveliness of the fabric and the very Marchesa embroidery she looks like a true goddess. Her simple, unkempt chignon completed a look that reminded me of a Renaissance nymph.

No words describe how magnificent this is and I won't even try.

So, there you go...

Maria Bello was all kinds of lovely in this metallic Donna Karan gown. Gotta love how her tan doesn't make the already shiny fabric look vulgar.

J. Lo probably didn't get the memo that this was a BAFTA event with Prince William and not the Grammys with will.i.am, so she showed up like she always does, flaunting her best assets.

This Emilio Pucci gown will make most women alive envy Lopez's stunning curves but is this the best she could do when she was going to be near the future Queen of England?

How do you even bow before her in this without ripping the fabric and showing Kate your luscious ass?

The Brits weren't the only place for fab fashion this week though...

Anne Hathaway was the fairy tale princess at this year's White Fairy Tale Love Ball, where she opted for a gorgeous Valentino Couture dress. The little details in this dress are best appreciated when you see it in movement, Annie looked like she was hovering while distilling pixie dust. Gotta love her bold red lipstick and romantic hairstyle. Only she can pull off sexy risque and then melt our hearts with this kind of look.

Armani Privé + Cate Blanchett = fashiongasm.

How the hell did she avoid looking like she was part of the red carpet?

This asymmetrical Chanel gown makes the lovely Diane Kruger look like she won best dressed at the 1986 Academy Awards. Make of this what you wish.

Phew, lots of looks this week huh? Can you pick a fave?

Red **½

Director: Robert Schwentke
Cast: Bruce Willis, John Malkovich, Morgan Freeman, Helen Mirren
Mary-Louise Parker, Brian Cox, Ernest Borgnine, Karl Urban
Richard Dreyfuss, James Remar

Red has got to be one of the most fortunately cast unfortunate movies ever made. When you got the likes of Bruce Willis, John Malkovich and Helen Mirren starring in a graphic novel adaptation you expect it to be brilliant or at least guilty pleasure.
The truth is that Red is none, it's more of a by-the-numbers thriller that under-uses its fascinating cast.
Willis stars as Frank Moses, a former black-ops CIA agent who's pulled out of retirement when agency members begin hunting him for a mysterious reason.
All he knows is that whatever's going on has to do with a secret list compiled by a reporter and that he has to keep an eye out to save Sarah (Parker) the phone operator he's developed a crush on.
Trying to put the pieces of the puzzle together he visits old friends including his mentor Joe (Freeman having more fun than he seems to have had in years), paranoid Marvin (a scene stealing Malkovich) and former wetwork agent Victoria (a sexy, luscious Mirren).
The movie then uses them in an assortment of situations that never achieve the kind of twisted lunacy you could get from having Helen Mirren and John Malkovich shoot machine guns together.
For all of its call to insanity and rebellion the film actually plays it very safe. It's always a delight to watch actors at the top of their game and when the veterans surprise you, it's also great to see Urban get some time in the spotlight, his turn as obsessive agent William Cooper is all kinds of wonderful. The one missing link in the cast is Parker who is totally miscast here, her part called for someone who played the part fully and gave herself to the insanity of it all, in the vein of Madeline Kahn in What's Up Doc? while Parker here seems selfconscious.
There's really not much to elaborate on Red without making it sound like it's a movie that should've delivered brilliance and without taking away the few merits it does have.

The Spiderwick Chronicles **1/2

Director: Mark Waters
Cast: Freddie Highmore, Sarah Bolger
Mary-Louise Parker, David Strathairn, Joan Plowright

Soon to be divorced Mrs. Grace (Parker) moves with her kids to a house left to her by great uncle Arthur Spiderwick (Strathairn), who disappeared mysteriously eighty years before.
Her eldest daughter Mallory (Bolger) practices fencing and seems to have taken a more mature take on the divorce than her twin brothers Simon and Jared (both played by Highmore).
Simon is a bookish kid who avoids fights and always has wise words for his siblings, while Jared is the rebellious one who resents his mother for taking him away from his father.
One day Jared finds a book written by his great uncle and containing secrets of the woods around their house.
Turns out the forest is inhabited by creatures that include fairies, trolls, brownies and ogres. The ogre king Mulgarath, is keen on finding the book in order to destroy the world and before you can say visitation rights, Jared has convinced Simon and Mallory that it's up to them to stop him.
While the film sounds instantly reminiscent of all those other fantasy book adaptations, which have become so popular and ubiquitous, truth is that you might get a surprise or two.
For starters the acting is great all the way, from Parker's heartbreaking mother who's trying hard to adjust to a new life and Plowright, who as Spiderwick's daughter gives the film it's most breathtakingly beautiful moment.
Highmore is nothing short of wonderful; it is always great to see a child acting like a child. While in some moments Jared delivers forced speeches, the rest of the time you can't really blame him for giving in to all the madness he becomes part of.
And it is here where the film's best quality lies; the visual effects aren't anything we haven't seen before and the magical world thing might not be really original or fascinating, but director Mark Waters imprints them with what he's become best at: delivering stories about young people with an affecting emotional truth, disguised as a genre film.
The movie features some honestly scary sequences which might not be appropriate for small children, but it's even harder to fathom that the harshest moments of all come when there are no magical critters around and the characters are forced to confront their own demons.
A dinner scene becomes as hostile a battlefield as you ever saw and a conversation between mother and son has them throwing words more painful than arrows.
"The Spiderwick Chronicles" is a film about knowledge.
How when we're little there is so much information hidden from us and how usually by accident we discover facts that push us into maturity.
Great part of the plot deals with how these two are opposing forces; Spiderwick tried to hide it from his family with tragic consequences, while Jared constantly calls his father to know what's really going on.
When, and if, those forces intersect the results will always have unforeseeable consequences, which is why it's pleasant to find a film aimed at children that doesn't believe that during this time ignorance equals bliss.