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
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
ALEX GIBNEY RIDES THE TAXI TO THE DARK SIDE by Brad Balfour Having previously made The Trials of Henry Kissinger and Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room, documentary director Alex Gibney has become an expert on people corrupted by and abusing their power. A prize–winner at last spring’s Tribeca Film Festival, few films resonate like Taxi to the … Continue reading
Samuel L. Jackson Makes the Jump Into Director Doug Liman’s New Film By Brad Balfour One thing that pulled actor Samuel L. Jackson into doing Jumper, director Doug Liman’s excursion into science fiction, was his fascination for the notion of teleporting. Although his character Roland the Paladin, does not have the power to “jump,” he has the … Continue reading
Stefan Ruzowitzky and Karl Markovics A Director and an Actor Make an Authentic Holocaust Film out of The Counterfeiters by Brad Balfour Just when you think everything that happened during the Holocaust has been chronicled, another film appears based on a true story that offers another look at that horrible experience in a way which … Continue reading
Ryan Gosling Love for a Real Girl by Brad Balfour Born in Ontario, Canada, to a strict Mormon family, actor Ryan Gosling started his career as a Mouseketeer in the early ’90s version of The Mickey Mouse Club. Sharing that distinct career boost with the likes of Britney Spears, Christina Aguilera and Justin Timberlake, Gosling has … Continue reading
Angelina Jolie Speaks From A Mighty Heart by Brad Balfour When A Mighty Heart was about to be released, some members of Angelina Jolie’s camp decided to limit her press exposure. Since this film was about a courageous journalist who is kidnapped and beheaded by Al Qaeda members in Pakistan, the press had a bad reaction to … Continue reading
Ellen Page Nurtures the Screen In Juno by Brad Balfour When Juno was first released, who would have believed that this quirky comedy with a strong female perspective on youthful sexuality and teen pregnancy written by an ex-stripper would so resonate with both the public and the awards-nominating community? But impact it did, garnering key Oscar nominations, … Continue reading
George A. Romero Relives His Zombies Through the Diary of the Dead by Brad Balfour For independent filmmakers, George A. Romero is one of the great culture heroes. Back in the 1960s, this Pittsburgh resident (he went from NYC to Carnegie Mellon U.) reared himself up and decided he was going to make movies with … Continue reading
Denzel Washington and Russell Crowe Oppose Each Other in American Gangster by Brad Balfour What a pairing. Actors Denzel Washington (Training Day) and Russell Crowe (Gladiator) play two opposing forces in the struggle between an upwardly mobile black guy and upwardly mobile, distinctly Jewish guy during the ’70s in American Gangster. The black man starts out … Continue reading
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