John Turturro, Sofia Vergara and Vanessa Paradis Don’t Want To Fade Away by Jay S. Jacobs You can thank John Turturro’s barber for connecting him with Woody Allen. Turturro is a well-known character actor, who in a career that runs for well over 30 years has been in such varied projects as Do The Right Thing, Barton Fink, Quiz … Continue reading
BAD WORDS (2014) Starring Jason Bateman, Kathryn Hahn, Amanda Anka, Rohan Chand, Philip Baker Hall, Allison Janney, Ben Falcone, Steve Witting, Anjul Nigam, Rachael Harris, Beth Grant, Anjul Nigam, Patricia Belcher, Judith Hoag, Kimleigh Smith, Emily Sarah Carlson and Bob Stephenson. Screenplay by Andrew Dodge. Directed by Jason Bateman. Distributed by Focus Features. 88 minutes. … Continue reading
Actor Turned Director Diego Luna Celebrates Cesar Chavez by Brad Balfour Born on December 29, 1979 in Mexico City, Diego Luna Alexander lost his mother in a car accident when he was only two. Therefore, Luna became immersed in his father’s passion for entertainment. His father was Mexico’s most acclaimed living theatre, cinema and opera … Continue reading
Demián Bichir Invitation to the Adventure of a Lifetime by Jay S. Jacobs You’ve been seeing a whole lot of Mexican actor Demián Bichir in the movies and on TV these days. While Bichir has been a well-known actor in his native land for well over a decade, and even had some show-stopping turns in … Continue reading
Robert De Niro – The Actor and Filmmaker Shaped Chazz Palminteri’s A Bronx Tale As His Directorial Debut by Brad Balfour On February 26, 2014, the First Time Fest team held a special event in tandem with Tribeca Enterprises in anticipation of the 20th anniversary of A Bronx Tale, Oscar-winning actor Robert De Niro‘s directorial debut. Since the concept of the fest is … Continue reading
Billy Crudup and Guillaume Canet – Honoring Their Blood Ties by Jay S. Jacobs Two brothers. One is a cop. The other is a gangster just getting out of an extended stay in jail and now sliding back into his old ways. That’s going to make for some uncomfortable family holiday dinners. That dichotomy is … Continue reading
John G. Avildsen – Rocky Road To a Classic by Jay S. Jacobs In the summer of 1976, Philadelphia was the home of the American Bicentennial. However, it turned out that celebration was only the second biggest thing to come out of the City of Brotherly Love that year. A small movie about a ham-and-egg … Continue reading
Hany Abu-Assad On His Oscar nominated Controversial Feature Omar by Brad Balfour Palestinian director Hany Abu–Assad’s controversial Oscar–nominated feature Omar merges genres and uses flawed characters to dynamically illustrate the complex political realities between Israel and the Palestinian territories. Born October 11th, 1961, in Nazareth, Israel, Abu–Assad was first nominated for a Best Foreign Language … Continue reading
Chiwetel Ejiofor, Michael Fassbender, Sarah Paulson, Lupita Nyong’o and Alfre Woodard – Looking Back on 12 Years a Slave by Jay S. Jacobs Director Steve McQueen’s film version of former slave Solomon Northrop’s autobiography 12 Years a Slave takes an eye-opening look at one of the great shames of American history, the prevalence of the violent slave … Continue reading
Blackfish Director Gabriela Cowperthwaite Searches For the Truth by Brad Balfour When SeaWorld trainer/performer Dawn Brancheau was killed by Tilikum — an orca who was a star of the aquarium/entertainment complex — the dangers of holding this wild species in captivity was spotlighted. Little did most of the public know that this wasn’t the first … Continue reading
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