Sure, P. T. Anderson’s big-deal There Will Be Blood follow-up opened this weekend, but the lines of Downtown cineastes and Scientology haters (the film is said to be inspired by the life of L. Ron Hubbard) are so daunting. We’re heading to MoMA to catch a screening of Francine, the new Melissa Leo film. (Remember Read More
The year’s biggest night for fashion was an unusually metallic affair–with Best Actress Meryl Streep draped in gold, Best Supporting Actress Octavia Spencer in sparkly silver, Melissa Leo in a pile of sequins, and Jennifer Lopez in a significantly sparser pile of sequins. Aside from all the gold and silver, black and white seemed to rule the evening–the few well-executed bits of color, like Michelle Williams’s sweet red dress, came across beautifully. Here’s who we thought were the best dressed last night! Read More
The Fighter star Melissa Leo had won a Golden Globe and SAG Award, and given loopy if lovable speeches at both ceremonies, flirting with David O. Russell and sputtering for joy. It’s the first time she’s had such recognition!
Her latest move, though, emphasizes the “loopy” side of her nascent persona. The actress Read More
The Fighter is the gravel-kicking true story of boxer Micky Ward; his wasted, battered, has-been older brother, Dickie Eklund, who threw away his career in the ring on booze, drugs and whores; and the scabby, loudmouthed trailer-trash family of creeps who drove them both to success and destruction, in equal doses. It’s a boxing comeback Read More
James Gandolfini has a face as malleable as taffy. I have never seen him give a performance that didn’t startle, transfix and thoroughly please me. Built like Humpty Dumpty, with a melting smile and a countenance so changeable and expressive that he can show several emotions at the same time, he is never less than Read More
Conviction, directed by Tony Goldwyn, is the inspirational true-life story of a high-school dropout named Betty Anne Waters (Hilary Swank) who devoted 20 years of her life to becoming a lawyer in order to prove the innocence of her brother Kenny (Sam Rockwell), who was wrongfully accused and sentenced to life in prison for Read More
Hilary Swank Goes for Oscar Number Three in Read More
DON MCKAY
RUNNING TIME 87 minutes
WRITTEN AND directed by Jake Goldberger
STARRING Thomas Haden Church, Elizabeth Shue, Melissa Leo, James Rebhorn
One eyeball out of four
Thomas Haden Church, a pleasant performer of supporting-actor status in clunkers like Tales From the Crypt and George of the Jungle, whose career got a temporary Read More
We’re knee-deep in Tribeca Film Festival craziness! Somehow our invitation to the sparkly celeb-studded Vanity Fair party got lost in the mail (cough), but just because Woody and Larry and Bono have cleared the premises doesn’t mean there’s not an awful lot still going on.
For the unwashed masses, the beautiful weather should Read More
The Cake Eaters
Running time 95 minutes
Written by Jayce Bartok
Directed by Mary Stuart Masterson
Starring Melissa Leo, Bruce Dern, Kristen Stewart, Elizabeth Ashley
The Cake Eaters is a small but rewarding slice of realism that is a nice antidote to the surfeit of slasher movies that have been polluting Read More
