Nov
09
I’m a lucky guy. I’ve wanted a reason to break out of my cramped, unkempt studio and check out Carsten Höller: Experience, the new exhibit at the New Museum that provides a comprehensive survey of the German-born artist known for his immersive, sensory-confounding — and sometimes adrenaline-pumping — installations, and along comes Air France to …
Oct
05
I won’t hide it: I’m New York City born-and-bred. Concrete was my cradle, and carbon-monoxide-tinged air my mother’s milk (a strained analogy, but apt). Which is to say that I know squat about life on the farm. Don’t know how reap, don’t know how to herd, don’t even think of approaching me about animal husbandry. …
Sep
26
I don’t want to be the one to tell the people at Samsung their job, but I think it’s high-time somebody told the people at Samsung their job. I mean, they’re a good sponsor and alla that — if it weren’t for them, I wouldn’t have had the opportunity to sit down with show biz …
Jul
25
We’re betting Paramount would’ve preferred that CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE FIRST AVENGER had come out on the Memorial Day or July 4th weekends. However, martial-arts-happy animals and big-ass robots claimed those two slots, so here we are in later summer, trying to get our patriotism back for a red-white-and-blue bedecked super hero doing his bit for …
Jul
07
You know you got it, you know it’s good, you just need that push to get your unique talent onto the stage and before an awaiting public. Well, our sponsor for this episode, Samsung, is ready to give you your chance with Samsung Mobile Stage, a competition that will grant a handful of standout entrants …
Jun
30
Before everyone larks out for the long, long weekend, I just wanted to let NY’ers know that Marc Singer’s debut documentary, DARK DAYS is having it’s re-release at the Cinema Village starting July 1. The film will be out on homevid in a couple of weeks, but for those of us in Manhattan, seeing a …
Mar
17
Worlds get overturned in writer/director Eric Mendelsohn’s new film, 3 BACKYARDS, but quietly, subtly, with no little humor and with finely tuned emotion. Set in a Long Island suburb, a businessman (Elias Koteas) finds himself suddenly rootless when a cancelled flight leaves him with a day free and nowhere, really, to go; meanwhile, a housewife …
Jan
20
The people behind GABI ON THE ROOF IN JULY pretty much created their film on a whim: director/star Lawrence Michael Levine wanted to follow up his previous project, TERRITORY, but was finding trouble matching his ambitions with what the market would fund. Meanwhile, co-star/producer Sophia Takal was willing to put up some residuals from a …
Oct
29
A songwriter who can dream up lyrics like, “When we kiss, it feels like a flying saucer landing,” can score those lyrics in any one of a thousand, infectious styles, and as a result command praises from the likes of Peter Gabriel, Neil Gaiman, and Sarah Silverman definitely deserves his own documentary. Co-directors Kerthy Fix …
Oct
07
Three filmmakers, two films, two comic views on how we humans strive, through all adversity, to find new ways to frak ourselves up. I know I promised Stephen Frears for last week. Life — as it has been doing recently — intervened, so I teamed his interview up with the interview scheduled for this week, …
