American actors and European directors can make a funny combo: one aims for highbrow legitimacy, the other wants a wider audience. And when they get together, the results can be blissful hybrids or horrible mutants. Just ask Ryan Gosling and Sean Penn, both of whom debuted new movies here in Cannes that hit both ends of the spectrum like Read More
Last week Barack Obama retired Larry Palmer of his duties as ambassador to Venezuela after President Hugo Chávez disapproved of the selection.
Why did El Jefe say adios to the longtime American diplomat? He didn’t have that Hollywood wattage, baby! When the U.S. chooses an envoy to Chávez’s personal plaything of a South American nation, Read More
Figuring anybody cold and diabolical enough to join the C.I.A. deserves whatever they’ve got coming, I didn’t pay much attention to the Valerie Plame spy scandal when it hit the front pages in 2003. But Fair Game, with Naomi Watts as the suburban housewife with twins who was also a covert intelligence operative playing a Read More
“We are not waiting in line. We are conducting journalism here,” said George Rush to a young man making his way to the bathroom last night.
Mr. Rush was standing at the back of the Irish bar McGarry’s on Ninth Avenue, just a few blocks away from the Daily News offices on 33rd Street, at Read More
How much worse can things get for journalists?
Newspapers and magazines are closing; the ones that remain grow thinner by the week as if somehow cursed; freelance budgets are being slashed and staffers accustomed to taking it easy are being forced to write like their livelihoods depend on it. (Hint: They do.) The only Read More
Another drawback to the long and cold winter, besides all the obvious complaints: a total lack of DVD releases. In recent weeks our Netflix queue has been a desolate wasteland of old classics and new crap. When we get emails telling us What Just Happened? has shipped, and we’re actually kind of excited, the situation Read More
Nothing like some third hand reportage to start the week off right! Apparently the eagerly anticipated new Terrence Malick film, The Tree of Life, will be shown in IMAX upon its release so that the “long and lingering” shots of the digitally created dinosaurs can appear more life-size. Yeah, you read that right: dinosaurs. This Read More
Somewhere, Bill O’Reilly just threw a fit. The always-busy Sean Penn, fresh off his Best Actor win on Sunday night for playing Harvey Milk, is already lining up his next hot button, politically-tinged role that will rankle the ire of many a Fox News commentator. According to Variety, Mr. Penn is negotiating to play Read More
Somewhere, Bill O’Reilly just threw a fit. The always-busy Sean Penn, fresh off his Best Actor win on Sunday night for playing Harvey Milk, is already lining up his next hot button, politically-tinged role that will rankle the ire of many a Fox News commentator. According to Variety, Mr. Penn is negotiating to play Read More
Okay, yeaaah, the Oscars! It’s going to take us at least a few more days to really be able to digest all the absolute batsh*t craziness that went down during Sunday night’s telecast. Can we all just start by agreeing that that show was truly bonkersville? We know there will be plenty of ink shed Read More
