Denzel Washington

His album is not just the back story to the story; it’s the soundtrack that should have been.  read more »

The box office was awakened this weekend from its fall slumber, as if it too had just been hit by the first cold spell of the season. American Gangster (No. 1) may have only grossed one and a half times as much as Bee Movie (No.2) nationally, but here in the city, it almost tripled the cartoon’s gross, averaging an astronomical $91,969 per theater. Gangster, starring Denzel Washington and Russell Crowe and directed by Ridley Scott, broke all types of genre-specific records, en route to smashing the personal opening weekend records for both actors.

A thanks from Universal, who are distributing the film, is in order to the New York Post, who keep giving wood to organized crime and feeding the city’s unquenchable thirst for news about its dons. Like one of Frank Lucas’ finely tailored suits, this film was made for Manhattan.  read more »

This weekend, with Halloween safely behind us, along with the obligatory blood-spurting-zombies-eat-your-face-and-rip-your-guts-out gore flicks (please see Saw IV’s $32 million-plus box office gobble last weekend), we can happily hunker down and see a bloodbath the way we like it—all artistic like! The violent, gripping, and thoroughly entertaining American Gangster hits theaters this weekend, bringing the unsurprisingly stellar performances of Denzel Washington—who truly is a movie star, and for our money could out-charisma a Pitt or a Clooney if he had the opportunity—and Russell Crowe. This is the third teaming between Gangster director Ridley Scott and Mr. Crowe (Gladiator in 2000 and the mostly unseen A Good Year in 2006, which had the burly Aussie going for a bit of ill-advised physical comedy).  read more »

Denzel Washington dazzles as drug kingpin while Russell Crowe plays the best good cop in years.  read more »

You may have missed this one, but there was a major Democratic upset in Mt. Vernon yesterday, where one of the longest-serving black mayors in the state, Ernest Davis, lost his bid for a fourth term to insurgent County Legislator Clinton Young, 48 to 52 percent.

Davis was dogged by stories of fiscal mismanagement while trying to run for an always-hard-to-achieve fourth term. While Davis was endorsed by Lt. Governor David Paterson, Young grabbed the support of local hero and movie star-activist Denzel Washington.

Also, Serapher Halevi, the head of the Mt. Vernon Democratic Party who was running on Davis’ slate, lost her bid to fill Young’s legislative seat.

Mt. Vernon is the third fifth-largest city in New York and is a significant power base for black politics outside New York City (along with Rochester, Hempstead and Buffalo). So expect to see some new-kid-on-the-block profiles of Young soon.

More on the races here and here.

At The Plaza, record-breaking deals but no big names yet; 15 Central Park West, on the other hand ...  read more »

Denzel, Sting, Norman Lear, Bob Costas, Sandy Weill and Nascar prince Jeff Gordon all have early seats at the greatest show on Central Park’s edge in decades.  read more »

So Denzel Washington has apparently given up on the idea of living in a church-turned-condominium, and has grabbed an apartment at 15 Central Park West, according to the Wall Street Journal. (And it's nice that The Journal is free this week so we can actually link to their stuff).

Mr. Washington's 3,000-square-foot pad includes three bedrooms, four bathrooms, and a terrace (facing the park).  read more »

And how is 15 C.P.W. stacking up against the nearby Time Warner Center in terms of early sales? Pretty good, if you ask a Zeckendorf:

At the Central Park West condo, two-thirds of its 200 units have received signed binding contracts since going on sale in September, its developer, Zeckendorf Development, says. In comparison, the nearby Time Warner Center took four years, until March, to sell its 201 units.

- Michael Calderone

Spike Lee’s bank-heist thriller Inside Man has two things going for it: better actors than usual a  read more »

Spike Lee’s bank-heist thriller Inside Man has two things going for it: better actors than usu  read more »

• Denzel Washington could be moving closer to God: The actor is eyeing a $5.96 million apartment in the Novare--a church-to-condo conversion on West 4th Street. Also, J.K. Rowling is dropping $150,000 on her summer home in the Hamptons. (New York Post)
• The luxurious home of the late Evelyn Annenberg Jaffe Hall, at tony 640 Park, is now on the market for $27.5 million. Coincidentally, the co-op apartment in 740 Park that housed her late sister, Enid Annenberg Haupt, is asking $27.5 million--and reportedly now under contract. (New York Times)
• Six Feet Under's Jeremy Sisto is heading to Hell's Kitchen, grabbing a $4,000 a month pad. In the past year, several actors doing more work on Broadway--like Rosie O'Donnell and Christian Slater--have purchased apartments near the theater district. (New York)

- Michael Calderone

I must say that I've never appreciated movie stars who treat theater as a form of charity work.  read more »

Prestige revivals mark this spring's theater season, with several potentially bankable classics open  read more »

Every week the marquees change, and the choking surfeitof trash we are boggled in gets replaced by  read more »

On the eve of the 74th annualaward celebration of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, t  read more »

New York is a town with a prodigy on every block, but how many of them ever become as famous at 18 a  read more »

Psychologically impacted by world crisis, I am, unlike the American flag, still at half-mast.  read more »

In Norman Jewison's new film The Hurricane , Denzel Washington gives the most dynamic performance of  read more »

Runaway Wife, Reluctant DaughterSusan Sarandon, I am happy to report, did not die of cancer, join a  read more »