Joe Franklin The Man Who Invented Talk by Ronald Sklar Joe Franklin, from his infamously nostalgia-cluttered midtown office, claims that he hosted television’s very first talk show. In fact, he insists that it was he who developed the very idea of the eternal genre. “I was hosting a radio show called ‘Vaudeville Isn’t Dead,’” says the Bronx-born … Continue reading
Philip Seymour Hoffman Channels Capote by Brad Balfour Though the actor is almost a head taller than the late author and social figure Truman Capote, Philip Seymour Hoffman brilliantly recreates the writer for the film about his life during the creation of his literary masterpiece, In Cold Blood – the story of two killers who massacre a … Continue reading
Curtis HANSON The director steps into a WOMAN’S WORLD by Brad BALFOUR Veteran director Curtis Hanson loves to confound people. As the Oscar-winning director of L.A. Confidential, who would have thought he would take on a project like 8 Mile – the fictionalized telling of cross-over rapper Eminem’s rise to success in the Detroit ghetto. Yet now he again defies expectations of him by doing … Continue reading
Richard Lewis is No Longer in Pain … Well Sort of … by Ronald Sklar “It wasn’t a very romantic proposal,” Richard Lewis tells me about how he offered to tie the knot with his wife. “It wasn’t in front of the Eiffel Tower. In fact, it was in the bedroom — I had tall … Continue reading
PETER FALK REVEALS A FEW THINGS by Brad Balfour Though by now veteran actor Peter Falk may always be playing a bit of Peter Falk in every role he does, that archetype works perfectly well when he plays the oh-so-Jewish father in Paul Reiser’s feature, The Thing About My Folks. If any movie does a classic riff on the … Continue reading
ROBERT REDFORD BEARS ANOTHER LIFE IN HIS LATEST FILM by Brad Balfour In An Unfinished Life, legendary actor Robert Redford tackles a character he’s wrestled with before, a massive bear. In this film he plays co-star Jennifer Lopez’s father-in-law who wrestles with her as she is forced to move in with him in order to take … Continue reading
Jill Sobule Too Cool… by Jay S. Jacobs It’s Friday evening at the Upstage; a new Philadelphia venue built in a beautiful old bank building that has been used as a Goth nightclub for the last several years. Lloyd Cole, the Scottish cult-singer who turned some heads with his 80s band the Commotions, is unpacking … Continue reading
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