Michael Pitt and Brady Corbet Aren’t Joking Around in Funny Games by Brad Balfour Ten years ago, German director Michael Haneke created a harrowing, near-psychotic film, Funny Games, about two young men – Paul and Peter – who force a couple and their son in their vacation cabin to play sadistic “games” with fatal results. A critique … Continue reading
Jim Sturgess Bets on 21 to Transform His Acting Career by Brad Balfour Based on Ben Mezrich’s non-fiction book Bringing Down the House – about MIT master math student Jeff Ma and his blackjack team – 21 details the story of Ben Campbell and his card-counting crew that ravages Las Vegas casinos for little over a year (making oodles … Continue reading
Ingrid Michaelson The Way She Is by Jay S. Jacobs It used to be in order to get your songs heard; you had to hope that somehow radio would catch on to you (often through payola). The whole business has changed, though, and Ingrid Michaelson is riding the wave of the new world order of … Continue reading
Charlize Theron and AnnaSophia Robb Sleepwalking Through Real Life by Jay S. Jacobs Though she has lived a rather glamorous life – born in South Africa, travelling regularly to Europe and the US, becoming a top actress in films like The Cider House Rules, The Italian Job and In the Valley of Elah – lately, … Continue reading
Adrianne Curry It’s Her Surreal Life by Ronald Sklar The last person you would consider having a clear-eyed take on reality is a reality TV star-slash-model-slash-two-time-Playboy subject. However, Adrianne Curry is finding the real and keeping it. Formerly of VH1’s The Surreal Life and currently of that same channel’s hit series My Fair Brady (co-starring husband Christopher Knight), Curry has … Continue reading
Finger Eleven We’ve Been Struck by Them by Jay S. Jacobs Patience is not always a trait that one thinks of in the kill-or-be-killed world of popular music. Yet, Finger Eleven’s whole career has been a tribute to diligence and allowing talent to grow. The band comes out of the Canadian suburbs in the late … Continue reading
Steven Strait An Actor Travels to Civilization in 10,000 BC by Brad Balfour No one ever expected a special-effects laden epic conceived and crafted by producer/director Roland Emmerich to be concerned about gaps in logic or story structure. So it goes with the German-born impressario’s latest faux-legend, the prehistoric 10,000 BC. From his civilization-destroying tentpole pictures … Continue reading
Curtis Stone Home Is Where the Chef Is by Ronald Sklar In America, Curtis Stone is popularly known as The Take Home Chef (on The Learning Channel); yet this Aussie and his cooking talents are internationally known. Before even setting foot in the New World, he was top dog at some of the top Australian restaurants, making … Continue reading
The Last Great Fight Author Joe Layden Ponders the Demise of Boxing by Ronald Sklar With the increasing fragmentation of American entertainment, there is bound to be a few old traditions that will go the way of vaudeville. One of the more unfortunate examples as of late is the sport of boxing. Once the king … Continue reading
Richard Price Living a Lush Life in Some Small Dive by Ronald Sklar Since he was a mere twenty-four, writer Richard Price has been greatly admired for his amazing ear for dialogue, his seemingly seamless writing style and his compelling urban plots. His new novel, Lush Life (Farrar, Strauss and Giroux), about worlds colliding on New York’s … Continue reading
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