I just watched the Michael Douglas movie "A Solitary Man", because I saw that the New York Times had mentioned Douglas as a worthy Contender for Best Actor. The film has a certain old school Hollywood charm, but I mean that indirectly, because in terms of tone and presentation it's a very current movie - its a character study in the modern indie ( Read more... )

I have a friend named Jon Forney whose pretty well known for being a funny guy. We all tell Forney stories, but if there's one thing I've noticed about Forney stories it's that if you can't do a Forney impression, you might as well chalk up the story to "you had to have been there" before you even start. There's just something about his specific ( Read more... )

Guys, Nathalie Portman is totally going to win an Oscar for Black Swan. And I don't bring that up because I've been thinking more about Black Swan and how much I liked it; no, I say that because of the previews I saw before the Fighter this afternoon ( Read more... )

When I left Black Swan last night, I turned to my friend Shelley and said "That was the movie I wished Inception had been." At first she didn't really understand what I meant because Black Swan and Inception are tonally as distinct as the Beach Boys and the Sex Pistols, but their underlying structures are incredibly similiar. There's the unreliable ( Read more... )

The problem with Girl Talk as a musician is that it is impossible for him to Advance. I capitalized Advance there because I'm not making some general claim, but rather, referring to my pet obsession of Advancement Theory, which says that the only way for an artist to stay relevant is to somehow continue to make work which is not what we expect of ( Read more... )

Goddamnit, Ted Turner, why do you own all the good shit? That guy has all the best toys... Turner Classic Movies is one of the few things that make me wish I had cable. The only way to see 2 Arabian Knights (the last film I need to see in order to officially finish up the Best Directors) is to go back in time to 2004 and watch TCM, since the movie ( Read more... )

I understand why Citizen Kane is considered a great movie. I have no argument against its being influential, and there's a lot to be said about its technical merits, too. For one, the the cinematography is often excellent, creating sharp pictures of shadow and light as only black and white film can; visually it often feels iconic and Welles really ( Read more... )

This is a thing that I saw this morning:

Hungry Person: What's the special today?

Brian the short order cook: Bacon and cheese fritata.

HP: Does it have meat in it?

B: It has bacon in it.

HP: Oh, ok. I'll have a breakfast burrito then. Is there beef in the sausage?

B: I think it might be pork.

HP: Oh. Ok.

B: Do you want some sausage in it?

HP: No.

WHAT. I ( Read more... )

Some more excerpts from that history of Saturday Night Live:

Fred Wolf:

"[Chris] Farley and this girl on the show were going out.She was really smart and pretty, and Farley really liked her a lot. But she couldn't put up with any more of Farley's stuff, so they broke up. And then she started dating Steve Martin. So one day Farley comes up to me and ( Read more... )

Joe Piscopo ( Read more... )