By Rex Reed 10/16/12 7:23pm

movies

Bedos, Richard, Fonda, Rich and Chaplin in All Together.

Aging, Gracefully: Quel Plaisir! All Together is ‘a Sweet, Thoughtful and Spirited Examination of How to Grow Old’

Jane Fonda’s first French-speaking film in 40 years finds her leading a joyous ensemble of septuagenarians in a sweet, thoughtful and spirited examination of how to grow old with dignity and pride in a regrettable era when senior citizens have been reduced to the status of a political agenda. At 74, Ms. Fonda is a testament to the benefits of exercise, the stimulation of cognitive effort, up-to-the-minute cosmetics, a healthy lifestyle—and the money to afford them all. She is glorious at any age, in any language, and is a class act on the screen who is always welcome.  Read More

By Rex Reed 7/17/12 7:05pm

theater

Mendez and Klena in Dogfight.

Puppy Love in Dogfight: Stage Remake of Nancy Savoca’s 1991 Film Finds New Generals In Joe Mantello and Peter Duchan

With so much mediocre junk currently polluting both stage and screen, it’s encouraging to visit the modest but robustly entertaining new musical Dogfight at Second Stage. Under the solid direction of Joe Mantello, and based on the honest, compelling, enthusiastically received 1991 movie of the same name directed by Nancy Savoca that starred River Phoenix and Lili Taylor, Dogfight is about love and loneliness, coming of age under pressure, and two young misfits struggling for identity despite the cruelty of rejection. Read More

By Rex Reed 7/11/12 10:34am

movies

Freeman and Madsen in The Magic of Belle Isle.

Belle Isle Sees the Reunion of Reiner and Freeman for Another Magical Musing on Growing Old

The Magic of Belle Isle is a warm, human, feel-good experience about bringing out the best in people, one that brings out Morgan Freeman’s best performance in years. He plays a grizzled old drunk named Monte Wildhorn, a once-revered author of epic western novels suffering from writer’s block who has become so miserable and depressed since losing his wife to cancer that he has retired his career to the inside of a bottle of sour mash whiskey. Cynical, reclusive and partially dependant on a motorized wheelchair, he has come to a small lakeside community in upstate New York to escape from the pressures of responsibility, reality and people—by drinking himself into a stupor. Unfortunately, the summer house his nephew has found for him to hide away in comes equipped with a dependant dog named Ringo the owner left behind, an annoyingly friendly community of covered-dish suppers and a compassionate next-door neighbor named Charlotte O’Neil (Virginia Madsen), a single mom with three daughters. Read More

By Rex Reed 6/26/12 5:00pm

movies

Wahlberg and Ted (voiced by MacFarlane) in Ted.

Ted the Triumphant: MacFarlane’s Silver Screen Debut Tickles This Critic’s Fancy

Wonders never cease. Who ever dreamed I could (or would, even on a dare) sit through a two-hour movie about Mark Wahlberg and a talking teddy bear? Or that I would (or could, even at gunpoint) possibly enjoy it so much? But here is Ted—a genre-screwing Donnybrook that defies description and guarantees, I swear, open-mouthed hilarity. It is refreshingly oblivious to the kind of political correctness that is going to be the death of us all. It is rude, raunchy and repellent to the point of almost being a send-up of the Farrelly Brothers, Judd Apatow, Adam Sandler and the rest of the ozone polluters giving movies a bad name. (Address your complaints to the nearest sewer.) It contains dialogue and depicts situations that cannot be described in a family newspaper—including the ones that are read only by the Addams family. It has nudity, profanity and X-rated detritus unsuitable for anyone with an I.Q. of 50. It is also creative, adorable, ingenious and devilishly, thigh-slappingly hilarious. Do not take my pulse. It must be the heat. Read More

By Rex Reed 3:26pm

movies

Knightley and Carell in Seeking a Friend for the End of the World.

Seeking a Friend for the End of the World Brings Forth Unexpected Chemistry Between Carell and Knightley

Don’t worry about floods, earthquakes or burning to death in an apocalyptic fire. When the end comes, protect yourself with love. This is the message conveyed in Seeking a Friend for the End of the World, writer-director Lorene Scafaria’s feature film debut. It’s an intriguing take on the apocalypse as a pragmatic tone poem, with comedian Steve Carell in his first deeply dramatic role (at least, the first one I’ve seen). He is very touching and unexpectedly appealing, and with co-star Keira Knightley he exhibits a romantic chemistry of which I never thought him capable. Read More

By Rex Reed 5/23/12 11:46am

movies

Sy and Cluzet in The Intouchables.

One Leg At a Time: The Intouchables Is a Story of Strength and Resolve

Already a huge hit in Europe, France’s crowd-pleasing The Intouchables seems destined to repeat its success here. Written and directed by Eric Toledano and Olivier Nakache, it’s the factual story of an unconventional relationship between a millionaire quadriplegic from the ritziest neighborhood in Paris and his Senegalese caregiver from the ghetto—a bond that begins as a working one but builds, through trust and care and shared experiences, into a lasting friendship that changes two unhappy lives forever. It has warmth, humor and an understated sweetness that is not to be taken for granted. Read More

By Rex Reed 11/22/11 11:19am

theater

Wild Animals You Should Know at Lucille Lortel Theare.

Trip Cullman-Directed Boy Scout Coming-Out Play Doesn’t Do Ripe Subject Material Justice

All through Wild Animals You Should Know, a morose little taste of darkness down at the Lucille Lortel Theatre on Christopher Street, I kept wondering why so many people were laughing hysterically. The woman next to me kept saying, “What are they laughing at?” Good question. The play, written by Thomas Higgins and directed by Trip Cullman, is about a teenage jock who comes out of the closet in the creepy and clandestine world of homosexual Boy Scouts of America. It’s sad, unsettling and occasionally homoerotic, but it isn’t even remotely funny. Read More

By David Freedlander 10/07/10 8:06pm

Ed Koch Says He And Rudy Giuliani Are Now Friends

Perhaps this makes them frenemies?

Ed Koch, who once wrote a book about Rudy Giulani called Nasty Man, said that he and the former mayor are now buddies.

“I want you to understand that there is a philosophical difference between Giuliani and myself, but there is no enmity,” Hizzoner said about Hizzoner. “We are friends.” Read More

By Mike Taylor 9/21/10 2:43pm

Warren and Geithner Need To Make Nice And Regulate Banks

In the past, there’s been some chafing between Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner and Elizabeth Warren, the new pseudo-head of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Now that the pair of financial regulators are being asked to shed their animosity and work together to create a bank regulator with a $400 million budget. We’ll get a Read More

By Mike Taylor 9/14/10 6:36pm

Tim Geithner Only Wants to Hang Out With His BFF Lloyd Blankfein

Internet newspaper The Huffington Post has obtained Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner’s appointment calendar, and duly “analyzed” it, by counting up the number of appointments Geithner took with various bankers, congresspeople and administration officials so far during his tenure.

Apparently Geithner met with Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein 38 times from January 2009 until Read More