The New York Observer » Sara Vilkomerson http://www.observer.com Just another WordPress site Tue, 14 Feb 2012 17:56:50 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en The Stars Came Out: The Hottest Movies to See From Now Till Thanksgiving Due Date, Nov. 5, Warner Bros.

Paging 1987! Due Date, Todd Philips' follow up to last year's surprise smash The Hangover, seems to borrow from an old favorite's formula--cough, Planes, Trains and Automobiles: Take two mismatched strangers, strand them far away from the familiar and force them to band together to find their way home. Read More

]]> http://www.observer.com/2010/culture/stars-came-out-hottest-movies-see-now-till-thanksgiving NFL Stages Surprise Marketing Play with Broadway’s Lombardi Starting September 21, theater aficionados outside of Circle in the Square on Broadway will be sharing turf with an unlikely set of ticket-holders: football fans.

Last April, producers Tony Ponturo and Fran Kirmser announced plans for Lombardi, about inspirational football coach Vince Lombardi, with The National Football League as a producing and marketing partner--the first time Read More

]]> http://www.observer.com/2010/culture/nfl-stages-surprise-marketing-play-broadways-lombardi Why Fight the Hype? Boardwalk Blows Me Away It begins with a close-up of a ticking old-timey pocket watch, the shot widening to reveal a man on a boat bobbing on night-darkened waters. There's a heap of atmospheric silver-blue haze. A foghorn sounds in the distance. Moments later, we see the shining lights in the distance that we're told is Atlantic City, 1920. Read More

]]> http://www.observer.com/2010/culture/why-fight-hype-boardwalk-blows-me-away Seven for September 2010 Leo who? Jump into a pile of fall films from Clooney, Woody, Stone and the brothers Affleck.VIEW SLIDESHOW > SEVEN FOR SEPTEMBER

]]> http://www.observer.com/2010/culture/seven-september-2010 Welcome to the Jungle! The Australian-made Animal Kingdom is among the most gripping, well-paced, acted and directed, and generally thrilling of anything that I've seen (yet) this year.

From the opening scene, where we meet a fellow named Joshua (James Frecheville), sitting passively next to his slumped-over unconscious mother and keeping an eye on the TV even Read More

]]> http://www.observer.com/2010/culture/animal-kingdom Will Michael Cera Ever Grow Up? What is going to happen to Michael Cera's career when he really grows up? This is one of the things I found myself wondering about when my attention started wandering during Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World. (Also: How can a movie so clearly directed at an audience with generational ADD drag on so? And Read More

]]> http://www.observer.com/2010/culture/will-michael-cera-ever-grow Blue-Eyed Nolan Regular, Cillian Murphy, Talks the Puzzles in Inception and Making Smart Movies Prepare to forget all about mopey teenage vampires, Airbenders and whatever animated thing is currently ruling the box office. Perhaps 2010's most eagerly anticipated film, Inception-Christopher Nolan's follow-up to 2008's critical and commercial smash The Dark Knight-will hit theaters on July 16 (cue nerd jubilation). Inception shares DNA with The Dark Knight-similarly dark, moody, gorgeous, Read More

]]> http://www.observer.com/2010/culture/murphys-law-cillian-murphy-talks-about-inception We’ve Got a Cruise Loose! O.K., so I think I might finally have a handle on Tom Cruise. Not Tom Cruise the "human being," mind you-'cause, get serious, who (save Xenu) has a handle on that-but Tom Cruise, Movie Star. I say this after seeing Mr. Cruise's new film, Knight and Day. The credits rolled, and as I blinked my Read More

]]> http://www.observer.com/2010/culture/weve-got-cruise-loose The War Not at Home Movies about our current wars have been well-documented box office disasters (do you remember seeing Stop Loss, In the Valley of Elah, Redacted, The Kingdom, Rendition, or Home of the Brave?). The Hurt Locker may have taken home the Academy Award for Best Picture, but it still grossed less money than a summer blockbuster's opening Read More

]]> http://www.observer.com/2010/culture/it-wont-make-you-feel-any-junger- Casey at the Bat "Hey, look over there. There's a dude out there. What the fuck is he doing?" Casey Affleck, distracted mid-thought in response to a question about his new movie, The Killer Inside Me, stood up to get a better look out the window from his room at the Crosby Street Hotel, at a man dressed in Read More

]]> http://www.observer.com/2010/culture/casey-bat It’s a Summer-Movie ‘Splosion! Tom, Cameron, Angie and Leo return to the multiplex. But is there still pop in their corn?

 

VIEW SLIDESHOW > COMING DISTRACTIONS

 

 

]]> http://www.observer.com/2010/culture/its-summer-movie-splosion Iron Man Lives Again! When Iron Man came out in 2008, critics and audiences pretty much lost their damn minds over it. And why not? The film was exquisitely cast—everyone had already previously acknowledged just how fantastic an actor Robert Downey Jr. is, but watching him embody the brilliant, witty and debauched Tony Stark, one had to agree that Read More

]]> http://www.observer.com/2010/culture/iron-man-lives-again-iron-man-2 Movies: The Lady Auteur April may be the cruelest month for some, but in Hollywood-land, it’s the start of the big-big blockbuster season that will keep theaters stocked up on exploding 3-D robots, superheroes and star-studded comedies through September. But on April 30, nestled amid clashing titans and ass-kicking comic-book characters, comes a much smaller movie that would be Read More

]]> http://www.observer.com/2010/culture/lady-auteur Single White Female CHLOERunning time 99 minutesWritten by Erin Cressida WilsonDirected by Atom EgoyanStarring Julianne Moore, Amanda Seyfried, Liam Neeson

Sheesh. When will people learn? Under the ironclad laws decreed by movieland, we know that cheating on a spouse leads to nothing but trouble (Fatal Attraction); snooping on a suspected philanderer will only uncover things you really didn’t want Read More

]]> http://www.observer.com/2010/culture/single-white-female I Love Rock ‘n’ Roll THE RUNAWAYSRUNNING TIME 109 minutes WRITTEN AND DIRECTED bYFloria SigismondiSTARRING  Dakota Fanning, Kristen Stewart, Michael Shannon

2 Eyeballs out of 4

Sex, drugs and rock ’n’ roll—it’s fun, isn’t it? As long as there is music to be cranked up on the stereo, so will it always be an alluring fantasy for angsty teens (and grown-up ones) Read More

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