Michael Haneke Makes A Loving Statement in Amour by Brad Balfour A cultivated couple in their 80s, retired music teachers Georges and Anne have a nice apartment in a fine Parisian neighborhood. One night, after seeing a former student perform, Anne blanks out at home, presaging the condition to come. Afterwards, surgery to correct her blocked … Continue reading
Chris Hayes – Catching Us Up on the Twilight of the Elites by Ronald Sklar MSNBC’s Chris Hayes explains the decay of authority in America, and why you’d better step up. This first decade of the 21st century has been glorious (think iPod and 30 Rock), but it’s also going down as one giant sorry-ass fuck-up. … Continue reading
Craig Marks Wants His MTV! by Jay S. Jacobs Legend tells us the MTV blasted off on television on August 1, 1981 with the Buggles’ “Video Killed the Radio Star” – a song that was like a shot off the bow of the staid music world and became the channel’s own personal mission statement. However, … Continue reading
Michael Biehn and Jennifer Blanc-Biehn Play the Victim by Jay S. Jacobs When sci-fi legend Michael Biehn was looking to write and direct a movie, he went back to basics. Biehn, who is beloved in genre circles for lead roles in The Terminator and Aliens, recently worked with Robert Rodriguez and Quentin Tarantino on … Continue reading
Famke Janssen Bringing Up New Challenges by Jay S. Jacobs Famke Janssen’s American dream keeps mutating. The striking actress moved from her native Holland in the mid-Eighties and became an in-demand fashion model. However, Janssen was always obsessed with films. She quickly segued into that world, getting a breakout role as a gorgeous assassin in … Continue reading
Matthew Modine Full Metal Press by Ronald Sklar The acclaimed actor goes full-metal digital with a new app and a stellar movie lineup. Shrouds of secrecy surround the sacred plot line to The Dark Knight Rises, the long-awaited conclusion to the Batman trilogy, due out this month. Matthew Modine has a pivotal role in the film, and yet … Continue reading
Ben Lyons Lyons’ Roar by Ronald Sklar The busy entertainment journalist applies old-fashioned family rules to excel in the digital age. Ben Lyons gives Jennifer Lawrence of The Hunger Games as a prime example of how he aims to be the best in the biz. “When a movie like that comes out,” he says, “Jennifer Lawrence will … Continue reading
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
PopEntertainmentblog.com 