You can’t get any less chick-flickish than the 1978 release of Midnight Express, which was based on Billy Hayes’ book detailing his hellish five year stint in a Turkish prison and subsequent escape. The movie, which was directed by Alan Parker (Fame) from a screenplay by Oliver Stone, starred a young and handsome actor from [...]
Earlier today I saw Oliver Stone’s eagerly anticipated (well, by me) Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps, the sequel to his 1987 classic Wall Street. As in the case of the original, the film stars Michael Douglas as the “heroic villain” (described by the NY Times‘ A.O. Scott) Gordon Gekko, Shia LaBeouf as the young idealistic [...]
In 1983, Kenneth Waters, a New England ne’er-do-well, was wrongfully convicted of killing Katherine Brow in Ayer, Mass. three years earlier. The DNA evidence, which could have successfully vindicated Waters, had been suppressed for a number of unsavory reasons. Outraged at her beloved brother being sentenced to life in prison for a crime he didn’t [...]
There is a definite Oscar nomination here but it’s not for star Hillary Swank or the movie but for Sam Rockwell playing the real-life Kenneth Walters, who had been wrongfully convicted in Massachusetts for killing and robbing a neighbor. Rockwell’s performance is the standout in the film; I think he’s a definite candidate for Best [...]
Unlike previous Oscar years, in which finding suitable candidates for the Best Actress nominee slots was comparable to finding a needle in a haystack, this season seems to be an aberration to the norm. With contenders Annette Bening and Natalie Portman already considered locks for their roles in The Kids are All Right and Black [...]
You probably did an immediate double-take when you saw the name “Ben Affleck,” grouped with the proverbial term “chick flicks hunk.” But not too long ago, Affleck, who started off as a bit of a heartthrob, an Oscar winner (for co-writing the screenplay for Good Will Hunting with longtime bff Matt Damon), a star of [...]
Due to the Jewish holiday (and other things going on in my life–such as teaching, working, etc.) I’ve been a bit AWOL when it comes to posting fresh entries on this blog. But I plan on being back by Monday. Tomorrow I want to see Ben Affleck’s “The Town,” which I know is not exactly [...]
Yesterday Mike Fleming of Deadline Hollywood reported that the Robert Redford-directed The Conspirator, a period courtroom drama that focuses on the trial of Mary Surratt (played by the very underrated Robin Wright in the film), who was convicted in the plot to assassinate Lincoln, has nabbed a distributor–Lionsgate and Roadhouse are working out a deal. [...]
I had been living in NYC for well over two decades–ever since I began college (NYU) as an 18-year-old freshman–when 9/11 happened. Let’s just say in all of my years of living in the city no other day could rival that day in terms of horror, pain and tragedy. At one point on that terrible [...]
Check out the October 2010 issue of W with Michelle Williams and Ryan Gosling on the cover. Both are starring in the upcoming Blue Valentine, which got Oscar buzz when screened last spring at the Cannes Film Festival. As a fan of both actors, I’m delighted they’re not only co-starring together, but that they’re appearing in [...]