«
»
-
Ozon's Cat-and-Mouse 'In the House'
-
Surprises in 'Gatsby' (Review)
-
Two Other Gatsbys, Two Better Nicks
-
Mira Nair's 'Reluctant Fundamentalist'
-
Watch Obama & Conan's Comedy at WHCD
-
Affleck in Malick's 'To the Wonder'
-
Ricky Gervais' Hilarious, Awful Music Video ...
-
Danny Boyle's 'Trance'
-
Ryan Gosling in "Place Beyond the Pines"
-
Brandon Cronenberg's 'Antiviral'
-
Black Comedy 'It's a Disaster'
-
Brilliant Melissa McCarthy on SNL (Video ...
-
'Room 237,' Kubrick & Malkovich
-
Colbert Asks Franco: Are You A Fraud?
-
Justin Timberlake's Latest SNL (Video)
-
Watch Ricky Gervais in 'The Office Revisited' ...
-
'Downton Abbey' Kills Off You-Know-Who
-
'Downton' Does 'Breaking Bad' (Video)
-
James Franco's Risk-Free 'Oz'
-
'Downton Sixbey': Lady Hedith's Answer
-
Smart Middle East Doc 'The Gatekeepers'
-
'Downton Abbey' Season 3 Review
-
Bad Title,Good 'Silver Linings Playbook'
-
Foxx,Washington On 'Django' & Race (Vide ...
-
Keira Knightley's Chilly 'Anna K.'
-
'Skyfall': An Older, Better-Written Bond
-
A Boy and His Tiger: 'Life of Pi'
-
Brad Pitt, SNL on Chanel:Which Is Real?
-
SNL's Lost Bond Girls
-
Hugh Laurie,Catherine Keener on 'Oranges ...
-
'The Master': Egotists and Cultists
-
Jimmy Fallon Sings 'Romney & Bain'
-
Fincher, Others in 'Side By Side' Extras
-
Watch "Andrew Sarris: Critic in Focus"
-
Amy Poehler on Sex, Music (Video)
-
Fallon Does "Downton Sixbey, Part 2"
Video Interviews
-
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
-
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
'The Daily Show' Visits Sorkin's 'Newsroom' (Video)
- By Caryn James
- |
- January 15, 2013 12:54 PM
- |
- 0 Comments
Jon Stewart and the cast of The Daily Show are fond of saying they’re pretend journalists, even though they often do a better job of delivering actual news stories than the circus that is CNN. In this segment about the loss of investigative journalism -- too expensive, too ratings-challenged – John Oliver interviews Kaj Larsen, a victim of CNN cutbacks; reminds us of the time that Jessica Yellin was a hologram (and really, I don’t blame her for that news-meets-Star-Trek moment), and visits Will McAvoy -- or is it Jeff Daniels? -- in a really fictional newsroom.
'Girls,' Season 2: Where Does Lena Dunham End and Hannah Begin?
- By Caryn James
- |
- January 8, 2013 9:01 AM
- |
- 1 Comment
With the ultra-sharp new season of Girls, I finally understand – though I don’t agree with – the Lena Dunham backlash. For all I know, in real life she’s perfectly likable. But her character, Hannah, is the most squirm-inducing character on television. Hannah’s total self-absorption (as if the world should be interested) and defiantly strong self-image is combined with its reverse: the cringingly bad self-image her bravado masks, and utterly self-destructive relationships. Who would want to be this whiny mess’ friend? But Dunham plays her so convincingly that the distance between herself and Hannah seems to vanish – which is especially weird, considering that Dunham is the writer/director/actor/ and Judd Apatow protegee with a reported $3.5 million book deal and Hannah is a struggling, post-college mess.
'Downton Abbey,' The Middle Class and Money ('Ya Gotta Spend It on Somethin' ')
- By Caryn James
- |
- January 3, 2013 9:01 AM
- |
- 1 Comment
Season 3 of Downton Abbey – as soapy, dramatic and witheringly funny as ever, and at times shatteringly sad – begins in the spring of 1920, and everything now has a whiff of the modern. Daisy the kitchen maid rides a bike through the village, Mary and Matthew are planning their wedding, Anna is determined to find the evidence that will free Bates from prison, and in the midst of all that comes the real bombshell. Lord Grantham has made a very bad investment, losing most of his American wife’s fortune; they may have to put Downton on the market. Viewers caught in the 2008 economic crisis can relate.
Cast of 'Downton Abbey' Does 'Breaking Bad' on 'Colbert Report'
- By Caryn James
- |
- December 14, 2012 10:45 AM
- |
- 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
- |
- December 7, 2012 9:00 AM
- |
- 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.
An Irresistible Mix: Smart Meets Soapy in 'The Hour'
- By Caryn James
- |
- November 28, 2012 8:45 AM
- |
- 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
- |
- November 11, 2012 11:17 AM
- |
- 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?
Mike Bloomberg, Chris Christie and Some Jersey Hand Gestures (SNL Video)
- By Caryn James
- |
- November 4, 2012 11:16 AM
- |
- 1 Comment
I wonder how this will play outside New York and New Jersey, but if you’ve been watching Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s press briefings you know that his sign language interpreter has become a minor celebrity. SNL’s cold open did a brilliant take on Bloomberg and New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, along with their interpreters, at press conferences.
Daniel Day-Who? Louis C.K. Does Lincoln
- By Caryn James
- |
- November 4, 2012 10:17 AM
- |
- 0 Comments
What if Louis C.K. had been cast in Steven Spielberg’s Lincoln instead of Daniel Day-Lewis? Or, as SNL had it, what if the character of Lincoln merged with the character from his television series Louie -- stand-up comic, acerbic observer of life, and in this case emancipator of slaves and preserver of the union?
Obama, Romney and Tom Hanks in SNL's Debate
- By Caryn James
- |
- October 21, 2012 9:46 AM
- |
- 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.
