Greta Gerwig and Whit Stillman Sending Up a Signal for Damsels in Distress by Jay S. Jacobs In the 90s, Whit Stillman seemed to be the upcoming voice of indie comedy. His acclaimed and literate films Metropolitan, Barcelona and The Last Days of Disco were critical favorites and art-house smashes, giving the writer/director the deserved … Continue reading
Asghar Farhadi Iranian Writer/Director Gets Oscar For A Separation & Retrospective at Lincoln Center by Brad Balfour Iranian director Asghar Farhadi manages to both enlighten and mystify. Maybe that’s why he’s been able to evade both the censors and jailers who police filmmakers for thought crimes against the mega-fascist Iranian state. Or maybe because this … Continue reading
Martin Scorsese and Paul Schrader We’re Looking at Taxi Driver by Brad Balfour When directors-screenwriters Paul Schrader and Martin Scorsese came to the Director’s Guild Theater in Manhattan recently to discuss their ride with the groundbreaking film, Taxi Driver, it was an incredible moment in cinematic history. Their story of how this film took form and … Continue reading
Jennifer Westfeldt and Adam Scott That’s What Friends Are For by Jay S. Jacobs A while back actress and screenwriter Jennifer Westfeldt and her long-time boyfriend, Mad Men star Jon Hamm, noticed something odd happening in their lives. Many of their friends, people who they used to go out with all the time, were now parents. Slowly, … Continue reading
Joel McHale and Dan Harmon It Takes a Community by Jay S. Jacobs After an extended winter break, the crazy students and faculty at Greendale Community College are back on campus – and you know what that means, new episodes of the cult fave must-see sitcom Community. A few days before the show returned with a rash of new spring … Continue reading
Fernando Trueba Illustrates the History of Jazz with the Oscar-nominated Chico & Rita by Jay S. Jacobs Spanish film director Fernando Trueba has had a long, fascinating career which has branched out in many directions. He started out as a movie critic in the 1970s for the newspaper El Pais. He has since worked as an … Continue reading
Michel Hazanavicius Silences the Skeptics with the Oscar Favorite The Artist by Brad Balfour Wily provocateur and indie screen mogul Harvey Weinstein sees beyond the obvious and recognizes value in some rather offbeat films. Thankfully, that support has so far paid off. Four of Weinstein’s pictures won awards at this year’s Golden Globes, with a … Continue reading
Chris Weitz Helping Others to Find A Better Life by Jay S. Jacobs It is not often that people almost completely change course in Hollywood. However, after making two straight huge blockbuster films, Chris Weitz has downshifted into the tiny independent drama A Better Life. However, smaller is not necessarily a bad thing. Weitz started small … Continue reading
ANNIE HALL (1977) Starring Woody Allen, Diane Keaton, Tony Roberts, Carol Kane, Paul Simon, Shelley Duvall, Janet Margolin, Colleen Dewhurst, Christopher Walken, Donald Symington, Helen Ludlam, Mordecai Lawner, Joan Newman, Jonathan Munk, Ruth Volner, Martin Rosenblatt, Beverly D’Angelo, Shelley Hack, Jeff Goldblum, Lucy Lee Flippen, Gary Muledeer, Marshall McLuhan, Dick Cavett and Sigourney Weaver. Screenplay … Continue reading
Katie Holmes and Guillermo del Toro Are Not Afraid of the Dark By Jay S. Jacobs When Guillermo del Toro was a little boy growing up in Mexico, he and his brother watched a 1973 TV movie called Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark – which scared the bejesus out of the young boy. The movie, which … Continue reading
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