You know how you’re supposed to be suicidal when someone refers to Robert De Niro as “Bobby” because you know you’ll never be that intimate with someone so vitally important to the cultural life of the city? Well, the same is true of Robert Redford, who was called to the stage by Sony Pictures honcho Tom Read More
“As Matt Lauer once said in the sixth hour of The Today Show, I can’t believe we are still talking about this shit.”
Last night, The Observer attended an event that most of the other guests agreed should not have existed. Filo pockets and mini spring rolls should not have been served to the dignified attendees in their little black dresses. And they, in turn, should not have been drinking glasses upon glasses of wine while engaging in pleasant conversation. Quite frankly, we should not have been standing there at Jazz at Lincoln Center at all. But in spite of innumerable efforts to educate the dissenting public, the issue lingers—so there we were, standing at Jazz at Lincoln Center. Read More
Described in the production notes as an “entangling thriller”, Margin Call is definitely knotted, but it’s about as thrilling as the monthly statement of a failing Individual Retirement Account on the verge of a bank foreclosure. Set in the first 24 hours of the 2008 financial crisis, Margin Call, confusingly written and boringly directed by J. C. Chandor, proves again why Wall Street is so neurotic and disconnected. You need to hire a systems analyst to follow it, and even if you do, you may wish you hadn’t bothered. Read More
After quipping that the 2011 Can-Do Awards Gala was the nicest seder he had ever been to–and drawing attention to the especially “geometrical shape” of the Chelsea Piers banquet hall–guest Jon Stewart got serious.
“Four hundred thousand meals a day are served at the Food Bank,” Stewart said. “It really is a remarkable organization.”
The Read More
We were only allowed to ask Rachael Ray one question at the Can-Do Awards dinner benefiting the Food Bank for New York City on Tuesday, April 20, so we tried to make it a good one (and curb our urge to ask her about that whole Dunkin’ Donuts keffiyeh tempest a while back): Read More
Let’s acknowledge from the outset that the script for Lend Me a Tenor, the backstage farce—really, the offstage-and-back-at-the-hotel-room farce—that opened at the Music Box Theatre Sunday night, contains nearly as many implausibilities as an hour in Jack Bauer’s life.
Among them: that Tito Merelli, the great Italian tenor at the center of the play, Read More
Blind Date
Running time 80 minutes
Written by David Schechter and Stanley Tucci
Directed by Stanley Tucci
Starring Patricia Clarkson, Stanley Tucci
One of the more fascinating and discerning actresses in the current cinema, New Orleans’ own Patricia Clarkson is always worth watching. Even when she’s wasted in small, inconsequential roles in Woody Read More
Julie & Julia
Running time 123 minutes
Written and directed by Nora Ephron
Starring Meryl Streep, Amy Adams, Stanley Tucci and Chris Messina
Nora Ephron loves to cook. Nothing fancy, like pheasant stuffed with pate and truffles in Champagne brandy, but you can order her meat loaf at the Monkey Bar. She also loves Read More
Jovial restaurateur Drew Nieporent stood outside of Lincoln Center’s Avery Fisher Hall on Monday evening, May 4, holding an umbrella in one hand and a smoldering stogie in the other.
A Cuban? Never! “You’re too young to remember, but Ken Aretsky almost went to prison for that!” Mr. Nieporent said, referring to the proprietor of Read More
Earlier this week Slate put out a desperate call to its readers:
Over the last three months, we in the magazine’s culture department have been trying to prepare the perfect eulogy for ER, the medical drama whose finale airs Thursday. We have approached both staff writers and a series of reliable correspondents, inviting them Read More
Affordable Housing or Lack Thereof
