By Richard Morgan | March 9, 2010 | 7:56 pm
Brian Conroy, a 29-year-old analyst for the chief financial officer of an insurance brokerage downtown, was sitting at his desk the other day when a coworker in his 40s ambled up. The older man picked up a framed photo of Mr. Conroy and his long-term boyfriend, clearly in a... READ MORE»
Spring is finally in the air and, apparently, it brought a bunch of movies along for the ride. An overwhelming six titles hit theaters today, meaning as you slowly come out of your winter hibernation, Hollywood is encouraging you to sit in a dark room for two hours. As we do every Friday, here's a handy guide to the new releases. Green... READ MORE»
By Deena Sami | March 11, 2010 | 3:36 pm
City Island, a comedy set in the quaint, Bronx fishing village is about a family who can’t seem to tell each other the truth. Vince Rizzo (Andy García) is a corrections officer and a father of two (three, if you count his long-lost, ex-con son, played by Steven Strait) who secretly runs off to acting class and tells his wife (Julianna Margulies) he’s playing poker. She thinks he’s having an affair. Oh, and their... READ MORE»
High Society, Tinsley Mortimer's much-awaited reality show, finally premiered on the CW last night. And? Well, it's pretty much what we expected. Paul Johnson-Calderon called Jules Kirby a "beak-nosed bitch"; Ms. Kirby called him a "an AIDS victim" (he's not); and the Tinz spun around in pretty dresses, expertly avoiding the drama, except for the painfully awkward scene in which Ms.... READ MORE»
By Adam Lindemann | March 10, 2010 | 5:14 pm
Last week, the New Museum opened its new show, "Skin Fruit: Selections from the Dakis Joannou Collection," curated by mega-art-star Jeff Koons. This show has prompted a huge amount of controversy and suspicion, from The New York Times to The Village Voice, and all the blogs in... READ MORE»
Michael Lewis has done some insightful reporting for Vanity Fair over the past couple years, but his April cover profile of Oliver Stone, which I got around to reading last night, is most notable for what it doesn’t say out loud. Namely, that Mr. Stone appears to have very little idea what the fuck he is talking about.... READ MORE»
THE EXPLODING GIRL Running time 80 minutesWritten & Directed by BRADLEY RUST GRAYStarring ZOE KAZAN, MARK RENDALL 1 Eyeball out of... READ MORE»
STOLENRunning time 97 minutesWritten by GLENN TARANTODirected by ANDERS ANDERSONStarring JON HAMM, JOSH LUCAS, ROHNA MITRA, JAMES VAN DER BEEK 2 Eyeballs out of... READ MORE»
You really can't quibble with The Pacific's pedigree: The epic 10-part miniseries, which will air on consecutive Sunday evenings on HBO beginning March 15, comes from Tom Hanks, Steven Spielberg and Gary Goetzman, the same producing team that did the similarly themed 2001 miniseries Band of Brothers (Mr. Hanks and Mr. Goetzman also teamed up for 2008's acclaimed John Adams).... READ MORE»
William Kentridge's The Nose teems with text. The famed visual artist’s production of Shostakovich’s early masterpiece—about a government functionary who one day awakes to find his nose inexplicably vanished—marks the first time the work has appeared at the Metropolitan Opera. For the occasion, Mr. Kentridge has created a whole new curtain, proscenium and backdrop filled with a collage of newspaper fragments and non-sequitur quotes from Nikolai Gogol, who wrote the story on which the... READ MORE»
Not long ago, Harvey Levin, founder of the gossip Web site TMZ, watched Barbara Walters on Fox News, explaining why she was giving up her Oscars special after 29 years. Hollywood had changed, said Ms. Walters. Legendary actors had given way to reality-show phonies. Katharine Hepburn was out. Octomom was in. Bestowing celebrity on those who hadn’t really earned it was growing... READ MORE»
When the Rain Stops Falling, the intriguing, confusing and ultimately moving new play by Andrew Bovell that opened at Lincoln Center’s Mitzi E. Newhouse Theater Monday night, opens with a fish falling from the sky during a torrential downpour. The rain continues for the duration of the often-inscrutable play, and all of the characters either prepare or eat fish soup. At the end of the play, the fish from the first scene is served... READ MORE»
GREEN ZONERunning time 115 minutesWritten by BRIAN HELGELAND Directed by PAUL GREENGRASSStarring MATT DAMON, GREG KINNEAR, AMY RYAN, BRENDAN GLEESON 2 Eyeballs out of... READ MORE»
By Richard Morgan | March 9, 2010 | 7:56 pm
Brian Conroy, a 29-year-old analyst for the chief financial officer of an insurance brokerage downtown, was sitting at his desk the other day when a coworker in his 40s ambled up. The older man picked up a framed photo of Mr. Conroy and his long-term boyfriend, clearly in a romantic pose. "Which family member of yours is that?" he... READ MORE»
By Michael H. Miller | March 9, 2010 | 7:26 pm
"You can imagine how this thing loomed,” science journalist Deborah Blum told me on a recent soggy winter day as we lingered outside the shuttered sanitarium at Bellevue Hospital on First Avenue. The Pulitzer Prize–winning 55-year-old journalist was dressed all in black. We stared through rusted iron gates. The old building is eerily decrepit; its red brick has nearly turned gray, and the walls are covered in dead... READ MORE»
Disney CEO Bob Iger spent Sunday night rolling deep at the Oscars with his friend and biggest shareholder, Steve Jobs. If Mr. Iger seemed outwardly cool—and he almost always does—it had to be a tense night for him: Disney-owned ABC and Cablevision were locked in a contract standoff that threatened to prevent Cablevision subscribers from seeing the Oscars. Cablevision serves Long Island, where Mr.... READ MORE»
The University of Texas at Austin has bought the David Foster Wallace archive. His papers will reside in the University's Harry Ransom Center, which blogged today about how the acquisition came to be. They had their eye on Wallace, it... READ MORE»
By | March 8, 2010 | 9:04 am
Oscars! No surprises there, really. [NYT] At church, David Paterson said he'll stay in office "to fulfill the mission in which God placed me." [NYT] Two local Democrats are giving back their money from Charlie Rangel.... READ MORE»
Forget Kathryn Bigelow and The Hurt Locker, the big winners over the weekend were Johnny Depp and Tim Burton. Alice in Wonderland, the tandem's seventh collaboration, crushed the competition with a ridiculous $116.3 million opening. For reference, that was roughly $50 million more than the other nine movies in the top-ten grossed combined. As we do each Monday, here's a breakdown of the top five at the box office. 1. Alice in Wonderland: $116.3 million... READ MORE»
Last month, with wounds still fresh from the Leno-Conan carnage, the Post reported that despite Conan O'Brien's $45 million NBC buyout, the martyred Tonight Show host was quietly listing his duplex penthouse at the Majestic for $35 million, hoping, apparently, for a second... READ MORE»
