By Rex Reed 3/21 11:26am

movies

One of Dorff's more provocative close-ups.

Brake Time: Dorff’s 90-Minute Close-Up Keeps Audiences Zoomed in on the One-Man Show

Brake is both the title of a new thriller that will leave you breathless, and the one thing you’ll be yelling for to survive it. Directed at break-neck speed by Gabe Torres, it’s a movie so original and terrifying that to even attempt to tell you what it’s about would ruin the fun of discovering it for yourself. Suffice it to say, you will not be bored.

The star is Stephen Dorff, an unpredictable and always interesting actor who eschews the big bucks and easy fame of mainstream movies to devote his career to more challenging and transformative roles in quirky, low-budget independents—68 of them so far—ranging from good (Public Enemies) to bad (Sofia Coppola’s Somewhere) to downright unspeakable (Cecil B. Demented). He prefers risks to even bets, and he has proved himself fearless. (Don’t forget, he once played drag queen Candy Darling in I Shot Andy Warhol.) In Brake, he comes closest to leading-man status as he is likely to get, and the crackerjack results are well worth the 90-minute investment. Read More

By The Editors 12/13/11 7:27pm

opinion

An Advocate for Passengers

Only a fool would believe that terrorists have given up on the idea of using civilian aircraft as weapons of mass destruction. Luckily, those in charge of the nation’s security are no fools—they are well aware of the threat, and have taken measures since 9/11 to prevent another catastrophic hijacking.

That said, the zeal of the Transportation Security Administration’s front-line troops often is misguided and downright stupid. Read More

By Laura Kusisto 11/09/10 12:27am

In Deed! Bush Security Honcho at Home; Macy’s Exec to Wealthy Banker; $7 M. Pad Swaps … Again

–From muscling terrorists to sipping cocktails on a wraparound terrace with Central Park views, there’s no question Frances Fragos Townsend is enjoying her retirement. Ms. Townsend will pay $4.98 million to purchase a Lexington Avenue townhouse from an impenetrable LLC. The 49-year-old former prosecutor was George W. Bush’s Homeland Security adviser from 2004 to 2007, which Read More

By Joe Conason 7/20/10 8:52pm

Op-Ed

Our Secret Leviathan

Back in the bad old days of the cold war-when mutual nuclear annihilation was a policy option-a culture of secrecy arose in Washington. What wise observers understood even then was that while governments tried to keep secrets from each other, their chief concern was to keep secrets from their own people. Considering what Read More