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Two Other Gatsbys, Two Better Nicks
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Brilliant Douglas 'Behind the Candelabra ...
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Surprises in 'Gatsby' (Review)
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Ozon's Cat-and-Mouse 'In the House'
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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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Review: Ben Affleck's 'Argo'
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'Downton Abbey': They Killed Who?
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'Girls' Season 2: Lena vs. Hannah
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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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'Hobbit' Review (Not a Fan)
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Was 'Homeland' Finale Smart or Dumb?
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Hathaway and SNL do Homeland
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Keira Knightley's Chilly 'Anna K.'
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'Skyfall': An Older, Better-Written Bond
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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"
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Jimmy Fallon Goes To Downton Abbey
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Best Downtown Abbey Mashups and Parodies
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
Touching Kids' Chorus, F-Bombing Sam Jackson, McCartney And A Llama: SNL's Great Christmas
- By Caryn James
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- December 16, 2012 8:36 AM
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- 0 Comments
Just as it did when the show returned after 9-11, Saturday Night Live found a way to eloquently acknowledge a tragedy and move on to comedy. In the eerie but appropriate cold open, the New York City Children’s Chorus sang “Silent Night,” with the line “sleep in heavenly peace” a piercing tribute to the children lost in the Newtown shooting. But after a brief black screen, followed by the kids saying, “Live from New York, it’s Saturday Night,” the show’s Christmas episode turned out to be one of the best – if most retro -- of the season, with Martin Short as host and Paul McCartney as musical guest.
Cast of 'Downton Abbey' Does 'Breaking Bad' on 'Colbert Report'
- By Caryn James
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- December 14, 2012 10:45 AM
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- 1 Comment
Much of the cast of Downton Abbey -- including Hugh Bonneville and Elizabeth McGovern, but not Magge Smith or Michelle Dockery -- has been in New York promoting the Jan. 6th premiere of the new season, and they have faced a flood of uninteresting questions. But if the low point was Savannah Guthrie’s vapid, gushy group interview on Today, the best idea came from The Colbert Report, which enlisted a few of the Downton actors to reenact their series as if it were Breaking Bad.
Charlotte Rampling and Michelle Dockery Go Spying in Sundance Channel's 'Restless'
- By Caryn James
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- December 7, 2012 9:00 AM
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- 5 Comments
Once a spy, always a spy – that’s the premise of the sleekly entertaining and wonderfully (if sometimes implausibly) cast thriller Restless. The two-part period piece on Sundance Channel (Part 1 premieres tonight, Part 2 next Friday) offers a double-whammy of time periods. The story begins in the 1970’s with a single mother and graduate student named Ruth Gilmartin. Because she is played by Michelle Dockery -- Lady Mary from Downton Abbey – and is every bit as commonsensical as that character we get the added wit of seeing Lady Mary transported to the future, where she wears hippie-chic bellbottoms and oversize sunglasses.
Colbert's Hobbit Week Maps New York As Middle Earth
- By Caryn James
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- December 5, 2012 1:06 PM
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- 0 Comments
I may not be a big Hobbit fan (review here) but I do love The Colbert Report, which is now in the middle of Hobbit week. Tolkien-obsessed Stephen Colbert visited the film's set in New Zealand and famously won a Hobbit trivia contest, beating out one of its screenwriter’s, Philippa Boyens. This week’s guests have included Ian McKellen, Martin Freeman (in that interview Colbert came as close as I’ve ever seen him to stepping out of his fictional character and gushing with fandom), with Peter Jackson and Andy Serkis still to come.
An Irresistible Mix: Smart Meets Soapy in 'The Hour'
- By Caryn James
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- November 28, 2012 8:45 AM
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- 1 Comment
When smart meets soapy, the results can be delicious and addictive television – as long as the show proudly owns its soap opera qualities (that’s one of the secrets of Downton Abbey) and integrates them into the drama (the gap between soap and preaching is what dooms The Newsroom.) The Hour, beginning its second season on BBC America, gets that formula, and if anything tips toward the lurid with its new episodes.
Anne Hathaway and SNL Do Homeland
- By Caryn James
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- November 11, 2012 11:17 AM
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- 2 Comments
Someone at SNL really likes Homeland (don’t we all?) Last week, in their hurricane press-conference sketch, Mayor Michael Bloomberg explained to Spanish-speaking New Yorkers that white people were cranky because they were missing Homeland. This week, Anne Hathaway was at the center of a sketch that perfectly captured the actors’ quirks, with Hathaway recreating Claire Danes’ constantly quivering chin and Taram Killam capturing Damian Lewis’ teeny tiny mouth. And when you think about it, as Saul (Bill Hader) says about Carrie, why wouldn’t you trust a CIA agent who swills wine while popping pills, and is sexually obsessed with her source?
The Real Brad Pitt Chanel Ad Vs. SNL's: Can You Tell the Difference?
- By Caryn James
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- October 21, 2012 10:00 AM
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- 1 Comment
Just try to tell them apart. Brad Pitt’s recently unveiled commercial for Chanel No. 5 is so loaded with high-flown, nonsensical language that it out-parodies itself without any help from satirists. But SNL’s Taram Killam offers a very funny take on the commercial anyway, which includes Pitt saying to the off-screen director: “You want me to sound less coherent? Really?” Now that would explain a lot.
Obama, Romney and Tom Hanks in SNL's Debate
- By Caryn James
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- October 21, 2012 9:46 AM
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- 1 Comment
Were all the “binders full of women” jokes used up? SNL’s debate sketch ignored the most popular satirical target from the last Presidential debate, focusing instead on the candidates' pugnacious attitudes, with the added attraction of Tagg Romney promising to punch the President.
Biden Roars, Ryan Guzzles Water, Raddatz Wins in SNL's VP Debate
- By Caryn James
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- October 14, 2012 10:54 AM
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- 0 Comments
Martha Raddatz was the big winner at the Vice-Presidential debate, and she had some great moments in SNL’s terrific opening sketch too: look at how smoothly she feints, using baseball to sneak in a question about abortion. Kate McKinnon, who has already done the unthinkable by making Ann Romney a very funny character, has almost instantly become one of the show’s most valuable and versatile cast members.
Jon Stewart on The Big Bird Wars
- By Caryn James
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- October 9, 2012 10:53 AM
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- 0 Comments
Who would have thought that the possible firing of Big Bird would become a topic of national debate? (Yes, it sometimes takes threatening a puppet to create a political uproar.) After Mitt Romney’s threat to cut funding for PBS, Jon Stewart took a closer look at how Sesame Street is “indoctrinating our children,” as some right-wing-nuts have claimed. Teaching kids to share? That’s just a recipe for social dependency.
