I've found myself at odds with the prevailing winds. But as always, I'm blowing my own way. Here's what I thought of: - Woody Allen's MIDNIGHT IN PARIS--it's slight but funny with a romantic spirit and an appealing performance by Woody's alter ego Owen Wilson as a writer enthralled with Paris in the 20's. By [...]
The studios have spat out another summer comedy with two big stars: Tom Hanks and Julia Roberts in LARRY CROWNE. The stars can't steer this sappy, poorly executed, and ill-conceived hunk of nonsense-- penned by Hanks and Nia (MY BIG FAT GREEK WEDDING) Vardalos-- away from the fate it deserves: oblivion. Hanks cheerfully condescends to [...]
I've always hated circuses. Wouldn't cover them on TV for 25 years. It's not just the confined and lonely animals, it's whatever darkness and sadness is under all that makeup... BUT I really enjoyed WATER FOR ELEPHANTS--maybe because it didn't hide the darkness, and somehow still captured the magic that circuses promise: exotic beauty and [...]
I couldn't wait to see MORNING GLORY which promised a charming cast in a sweetly comic plot-- or so I thought. There's Rachel McAdams as the sprightly young morning TV show producer chock full of earnestness who has been hired to breathe life into a dead dog of a morning newscast. The warring anchors are [...]
"Eat Pray Love" is the latest incarnation of the archetypal female journey. It's the trip every woman wants to take. Unlike Ulysses whose journey requires him to fight all manner of monsters and physical obstacles in order to literally get "home," author Liz Gilbert's journey- a woman fleeing an unhappy marriage on a year-long sojourn [...]
"THE TWILIGHT SAGA: ECLIPSE" TRAILER It's beyond an eclipse. It's a black out of intergalactic proportions. No one really expected this movie about Edward (Robert Pattinson) the vampire and Jacob(Taylor Lautner) the werewolf fighting over Bella (Kristen Stewart) the reluctant Swan to be great art. But I didn't expect it to put me into a [...]
I've been hearing that folks don't like NINE, and that they are pulling it from theatres because of tepid reviews, and weak box office. I am probably among the few who actually liked this film despite its flaws. The cast is an extraordinary one, and has been used in ways that appeal to me. Who [...]
I MISSED YOU!! But wait till you hear-- all day yesterday-- Sunday- I was at the MGM GRAND HOTEL in CONNECTICUT judging the GRAND FINALS of the Emmy Award winning COMMUNITY AUDITIONS! We taped on the same stage where LIONEL RICHIE played to a sold out 5000-seat crowd the night before. Joining me on the [...]
It's that time of year when all the "serious" films are released. And so we have an onslaught of the best and the brightest, or those that wanna be. It's a mad dash to release by the end of the year for two reasons: 1) to make the Oscar deadline, (2)to be remembered by Oscar [...]
