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Ozon's Cat-and-Mouse 'In the House'
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Surprises in 'Gatsby' (Review)
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Two Other Gatsbys, Two Better Nicks
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Mira Nair's 'Reluctant Fundamentalist'
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Watch Obama & Conan's Comedy at WHCD
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Affleck in Malick's 'To the Wonder'
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Ricky Gervais' Hilarious, Awful Music Video ...
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Danny Boyle's 'Trance'
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Ryan Gosling in "Place Beyond the Pines"
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Brandon Cronenberg's 'Antiviral'
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Black Comedy 'It's a Disaster'
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Brilliant Melissa McCarthy on SNL (Video ...
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'Room 237,' Kubrick & Malkovich
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Colbert Asks Franco: Are You A Fraud?
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Justin Timberlake's Latest SNL (Video)
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Watch Ricky Gervais in 'The Office Revisited' ...
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'Downton Abbey' Kills Off You-Know-Who
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'Downton' Does 'Breaking Bad' (Video)
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James Franco's Risk-Free 'Oz'
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'Downton Sixbey': Lady Hedith's Answer
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Smart Middle East Doc 'The Gatekeepers'
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'Downton Abbey' Season 3 Review
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Bad Title,Good 'Silver Linings Playbook'
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Foxx,Washington On 'Django' & Race (Vide ...
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Keira Knightley's Chilly 'Anna K.'
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'Skyfall': An Older, Better-Written Bond
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A Boy and His Tiger: 'Life of Pi'
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Brad Pitt, SNL on Chanel:Which Is Real?
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SNL's Lost Bond Girls
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Hugh Laurie,Catherine Keener on 'Oranges ...
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'The Master': Egotists and Cultists
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Jimmy Fallon Sings 'Romney & Bain'
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Fincher, Others in 'Side By Side' Extras
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Watch "Andrew Sarris: Critic in Focus"
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Amy Poehler on Sex, Music (Video)
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Fallon Does "Downton Sixbey, Part 2"
Video Interviews
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Jamie Foxx, Kerry Washington on 'Django' and the N-Word -
Hugh Laurie and Catherine Keener -
Christoph Waltz on 'Django Unchained' -
Amy Poehler on Sex, Music, Comedy -
Whit Stillman On Damsels in DIstress -
Colin Firth On "Tinker, Tailor" -
Sundance Panel: The Power of Story -
Liam Neeson On Money and "The Grey" -
Gary Oldman On "Tinker, Tailor" -
Ralph Fiennes on Coriolanus -
Ed Burns and Caitlin FitzGerald: Newlyweds -
Jessica Chastain Talks About "Take Shelter" -
Ewan McGregor On "Beginners"
Video Clips
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SNL's Unaired, Bieber-Free Senate Sketch -
Tina Fey & Amy Poehler's Golden Globes Opener -
Anne Hathaway, SNL Do 'Homeland' -
Daniel Craig and SNL's Lost Bond Girls -
Christie, Bloomberg and Jersey Hand Gestures -
Jimmy Fallon Sings "Romney and Bain" -
Fallon, Ferrell Dance in Tight Pants -
Steve Carell Plugs Fake Books with Jon Stewart -
Jimmy Fallon Does Downton Abbey -
Edgy Obama At WH Correspondents Dinner -
Keanu Reeves' New Doc (Trailer) -
Daniel Radcliffe As Casey Anthony's Dog
Monthly Archives
Caryn James
Brandon Cronenberg's 'Antiviral' and What We Know About Fame
- By Caryn James
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- April 15, 2013 9:01 AM
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- 0 Comments
Paris Hilton is all but forgotten, the word
"Kardashian" long ago became a late-night comedy punchline, and it's
hard to remember a high-profile political campaign that did not turn on a
candidate's movie-worthy charisma. So why would anyone think that noticing our
obsession with celebrity culture counts as something profound? Or even
something to say? For all its surface
flash - and some of it really dazzles - that sense of rediscovering the
celebrity wheel is what makes Brandon Cronenberg's Antiviral a sleek but vapid
thriller. (It's in theaters and on VOD now.)
Who Is Ben Affleck in Terrence Malick's 'To the Wonder'?
- By Caryn James
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- April 11, 2013 9:16 AM
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- 0 Comments
Like all Terrence Malick's films, To the Wonder is art at its purest. This impressionistic take on a
man (Ben Affleck) as he goes through a major relationship with Maria (Olga Kurylenko)
and a lesser fling with Jane ( Rachel McAdams), is told almost entirely in voiceover, which blends
with poetic images, a range of classical music, bits of dialogue. The actual
conversations are so rare you can count them. Despite its clarity of purpose, though, it is not the best example of an art film you'll ever see,
and far from the best Terrence Malick.
Black Comedy Gem, 'It's A Disaster'
- By Caryn James
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- April 10, 2013 9:15 AM
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- 0 Comments
An offbeat little gem of a black-comedy, It's a Disaster is the kind of film that
plays much better than it sounds like it should. It's another end-of-the-world
(maybe) ensemble piece, but the deft writing and directing by Todd Berger and
the straight-faced comic acting by America Ferrera, David Cross and Julia
Stiles make it all feel fresh.
'Mad Men' Event: What Do Betty and Megan Really Think of Each of Each Other?
- By Caryn James
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- April 8, 2013 9:30 AM
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- 0 Comments
What do the ex and the current Mrs. Don Drapers have to say
to each other? I'm not sure, but I know how to find out: join me on April 24th
at the 92nd St. Y for a conversation with Mad Men creator Matthew Weiner, along
with January Jones (Betty) and Jessica Pare (Megan) for a wide-open conversation
about the series, the season, and everybody's favorite cheating husband. Or is
he?
Melissa McCarthy Gives Physical Comedy a Good Name On SNL (Video)
- By Caryn James
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- April 7, 2013 11:12 AM
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- 0 Comments
Even if you're not a fan of physical comedy - and I'm usually
not - the brilliant Melissa McCarthy makes it hilarious and sophisticated. She
began her latest SNL hosting gig by entering on sky-high, red-sequined platform
heels, stumbling her way on stage in a routine that was also a goof on
the absurdity of actress' shoes today.
Danny Boyle's 'Trance': James McAvoy, Rosario Dawson and Twisted Memories
- By Caryn James
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- April 4, 2013 9:10 AM
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- 0 Comments
Playing a sophisticated London auctioneer, James McAvoy gazes
into the camera with cool, nerveless clarity as his voiceover gives us the inside
tricks of protecting and stealing a painting. This opening sequence of Danny
Boyle's Trance is no more than exposition
with a dash of red herring, and shouldn't work at all. Yet it does because
McAvoy's voice is so captivating, already layered with deception and delusion, and
because Boyle's visual creativity sweeps us along. We zoom into the auction
room; we're in a van with a gang of mercenaries hired by the auction house in
case of trouble; a black and white flashback shows us the good old days when it was easy to steal a Rembrandt. Keep in
mind how well McAvoy and Boyle save this opening; that will be extremely relevant
to the ending of Trance, a film that
looks like a heist movie wrapped in a memory puzzle, but is itself a kind of
red herring.
Watch Jimmy Fallon and Jay Leno's Duet 'Tonight,' About 'Tonight' (UPDATED)
- By Caryn James
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- April 2, 2013 1:59 AM
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- 0 Comments
Here, ironically enough, is the ultimate proof that Jimmy
Fallon should take over for Jay Leno: a congenial duet between the two men commiserating
about the media flap and speculation that Fallon will replace Leno in 2014, singing
"Tonight" from West Side Story rewritten to suit their story. It's a
bit of satiric and public relations genius, acknowledging and trying to defuse
the rumors at the same time. (UPDATE: Two days after this video appeared, NBC announced that Fallon would take over Tonight in February; everyone obviously knew this was coming and decided to spin the transition right this time.)
Ryan Gosling and Bradley Cooper in 'The Place Beyond the Pines'
- By Caryn James
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- March 28, 2013 9:20 AM
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- 0 Comments
Derek Cianfrance's The
Place Beyond the Pines is a giant ambitious triptych -- Ryan Gosling
dominates the first part, Bradley Cooper the second, and two younger actors when
the story leaps ahead in time -- and this trenchant view of fathers, sons and
the determinism of class is two-thirds of a terrific film. If the last part
seems a letdown, it's only because the first two work so powerfully to create
believable, fraught, opposite lives occupying the same time and place.
'Room 237,' Kubrick Fanatics And a Bonus Recommendation
- By Caryn James
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- March 27, 2013 9:15 AM
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- 0 Comments
The rapturous responses to Room 237 that came out of the Sundance Film festival seem wildly
overstated, but understandable. This modest, entertaining, and at times
visually clever documentary about The Shining -- in which a handful of
obsessives decode the signposts to supposedly "true" meanings lurking
in Kubrick's subtext -- is exactly the kind of inbred film that some cineastes go
bonkers for. Not as bonkers as the theorists interviewed for the film, of
course. They are hard to top in the thinking-gone-haywire department.
Al Pacino, 'Phil Spector,' and Media Justice
- By Caryn James
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- March 21, 2013 9:12 PM
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- 1 Comment
The gigantic frizzed-out wig on Al Pacino's head might be
enough to make you curious about Phil Spector, the new HBO drama written and
directed by David Mamet. In a multitude of wigs as conspicuously creepy as the
actual Spector's, Pacino plays the fantastically successful music producer and
reputed loony-tunes guy convicted of the 2007 murder in his home of Hollywood
wannabe and club hostess Lana Clarkson. The
first question the film raise isn't about the murder though. It's an issue that
comes up with both Pacino and with Mamet today: are you getting the good or the
evil twin? Pacino the actor who can still dazzle, or the over-the-top
sputtering blowhard? Mamet the disciplined writer of The Untouchables and
Glengarry Glen Ross or the self-indulgent filmmaker (The Winslow Boy) who dictates
that everyone to speak in artificial, terse Mamet-talk?
