Stars and stuff on the silver screen.
In the cutthroat world of the DJ, fame can come in a second and go in half that time. Those who make it to the very top do so only because they possess a brilliance of technique combined with an understanding of crowds that no one else can touch. Frankie …
The more you know about a subject, the less likely you are to enjoy a fictionalized treatment of it. Historical dramas, biopics, and ripped-from-the-headlines stories are often unsatisfying to those very close to the real-life people and events; too much must be glossed over, left out, abridged, or sweetened to …
Modern cinema, from the blockbusting franchise entries of the ‘vulgar auteurs’ to the artsy but profitable realm of the self-contradictory indie giants, has of late become the realm of miniaturists. From Zack Snyder, the marketing-anointed visionary of hyperrealist action, to Wes Anderson and his delicately crafted chamber pieces, directors have …
Program notes for the first half of this evening’s performance at the Hutton Gibson Center for the Performing Arts: ACT 1, SCENE 1: a hill outside of Jerusalem we will later come to know as Golgotha. As the “Overture” plays, Jesus, smiling for the only time during the performance, cavorts …
“Tim? It’s Jill.” “Oh, hi, Jill! I’m surprised you’re calling so soon. Did they cancel?” “No. We had the meeting.” “Well? Good news?” “Is a 20-minute meeting ever good news?” “I dunno. That’s what I pay you for.” “They’ve decided to pass, Tim.” “No! You’re kidding. Why?” “They thought that …
I am a postmodernist, whatever that means, even if it doesn’t mean anything. If it does mean something, it means that I am perpetually opposed to the idea of canon, of the idea that there are certain things that belong in the realm of capital-A Art and other things that …
“Sound off! What’s your name, asswipe?” “Uh…Alan Corwin.” “Bullshit! I can’t hear you, asswipe! Speak up like when you tell your girlfriend to tug on it! What’s your name, asswipe?” “Corwin. Alan Corwin. I’m from Document Control.” “Document Control? Is that what they’re calling it now? Bullshit! You’re a fucking file …
It has been sportswriting law since 1992 that any article dealing with women in baseball must quote that line from A League of Their Own, and I have never been one to swim against the tide. (Though, of course, it was written by someone who’s clearly never spent any time inside …
Surprise is one of the most important things to me in art. When you reach a certain point in your life, you’ve become more or less familiar with most of the standard structure of narrative art forms, and while you can certainly appreciate it when something is simply done with …
Heroism is a tricky thing. It’s difficult to define to the point that it’s almost entirely personal; it’s a thorny enough social concept that we spend endless hours debating what we mean by it in both fiction and reality. Some people don’t like the very idea, finding it too troublesome …
And believe me, it wasn’t just the other women. If it had been only that, I could have handled it. A girl comes to expect things like that from certain men, especially from an ‘artistic’ type. There was also the drinking. The temper. The strangers barging in at three in …
In the history of pornographic cinema, has the score of any film so perfectly mirrored the plot than in Adolfo Gotobed’s classic Push in the Bush? Performed by Pacoima’s own master craftsman of the bass sequencer, Lenny Stratocanticle, who met the director at one of Gregory Dark’s legendary wrap parties …
Dear Mr. Rafaelli, It is with great disappointment that I write to you today, a disappointment that I’m sure will be echoed and enhanced by your reaction to the bad news. And the news is bad indeed, because it entails (for me) a loss of nearly a year of my …
The character of Hannibal Lecter has had a difficult journey over the years. The charming, terrifying psychiatrist and serial killer has made his creator, Thomas Harris, very rich, and has become what is known in our media-savvy age as a ‘franchise’, but the artistic merit of that franchise is a …
Scarlett Johansson is, and I mean to do her no disservice by saying so, more a movie star than an actress. She is one of those rare individuals in Hollywood who has attained a status so iconic that whether or not she actually delivers a good performance or a bad …
