AltWeeklies Wire
Jameel Saleem's Debut Feature Follows a Guy's Romantic Misadventuresnew

What makes Cream Soda work is how vulnerable his male characters are willing to be. When talking about his love life, he admits that some things were funny then, and some were only funny in hindsight.
Baltimore City Paper |
Bret McCabe |
03-23-2010 |
Reviews
Tags: Cream Soda, Jameel Saleem
Novelist Michael Kimball Pieces Together a New Kind of Narrative in '60 Writers/60 Places'new

On one hand, 60 Writers is little more than a series of vignettes featuring authors reading an excerpt of their works in some setting, shot with a static single-camera set up. On the other hand, it is a single-viewing experience composed of 60 completely different elements.
Baltimore City Paper |
Bret McCabe |
02-09-2010 |
Reviews
Matthew Porterfield Talks About His Latest Projectnew
The second feature by filmmaker Matthew Porterfield is almost finished, though not the one you may have heard about. Putty Hill is making its world premiere at the Berlinale's International Forum for New Cinema in early February.
Baltimore City Paper |
Bret McCabe |
02-02-2010 |
Profiles & Interviews
Tags: Matthew Porterfield, Putty Hill
'Cold Souls' is a Delightfully Coy, if Featherweight, Comedynew
Writer/director Sophie Barthes' debut feature is a philosophical meditation hiding behind a science-fiction premise and all wrapped up in a intelligently nutty comedy of manners.
Baltimore City Paper |
Bret McCabe |
09-08-2009 |
Reviews
Guys Wide Shut: 'Humpday' Calls Bromance's Bluffnew
Lynn Shelton's winning indie comedy is about two thirtysomething men contemplating taking their friendship to the alternative lifestyle edge to win an amateur porn competition, and what is revealed as they go under the microscope ... err, video camera.
Baltimore City Paper |
Bret McCabe |
08-04-2009 |
Reviews
Robert Kenner Talks Cloned Meats, Big Agribusiness and 'Food, Inc.'new
Kenner is no stranger to controversial subjects. He won an Emmy for his 2005 "Two Days in October," which examined the domestic response to the Vietnam War during the turbulent fall of 1967. Kenner runs into a even more volatile subject with his new documentary, Food, Inc., an investigate peek into America's big agribusinesses and meat and poultry industries.
Baltimore City Paper |
Bret McCabe |
07-07-2009 |
Profiles & Interviews
The New 'Pelham': Just Another Mindless Tony Scott Productnew
Like almost every single one of Scott's movies since 1998's Enemy of the State, though, Pelham's inevitable critical drubbing probably won't stop it from making pretty good money.
Baltimore City Paper |
Bret McCabe |
06-16-2009 |
Reviews
Filmmaker Looks to Connect with Witnesses to RFK's Funeral Trainnew

In June 1968, a train bearing the body of Robert F. Kennedy traveled from New York to Washington. Now Jon Blair is making a documentary about the myriad people who spontaneously lined the tracks along its route.
Baltimore City Paper |
Bret McCabe |
05-19-2009 |
Profiles & Interviews
Director Marc Abraham Approaches Something Almost Universal in 'Flash of Genius'new
Tall and lean, Abraham's comfortably casual attire--sneakers, jeans, a white T-shirt, and a dark sport coat--belies both his early years as a sports reporter and his nearly 20 years as veteran movie producer, his diverse resume including work on 1991's The Commitments and 2006's Children of Men.
Baltimore City Paper |
Bret McCabe |
10-07-2008 |
Profiles & Interviews
Tags: Flash of Genius, Marc Abraham
'The Grand' Feels Like Inflated Sketch Comedynew
Writer and director Zak Penn's episodic comedy features a huge cast slouching toward and through a poker tournament, with every scene, from the table to the backstory inserts, feeling like an improv session.
Baltimore City Paper |
Bret McCabe |
04-15-2008 |
Reviews
'Flawless' Isn'tnew
It's a pity that even escapist genre fiction stoops to having a message these days.
Baltimore City Paper |
Bret McCabe |
04-01-2008 |
Reviews
Tags: Flawless, Michael Radford
David Simon: 'The Wire' Exit Interviewnew

The Baltimore-set and -shot series that debuted in 2002 is officially over following this past Sunday night's series finale. It's over. Finished. Kaput. Long live The Wire.
Baltimore City Paper |
Bret McCabe |
03-12-2008 |
TV
Launching Legacy Film Festivalnew
Last fall, Jasmine Richardson and Laura Green decided to launch a minority film festival in Baltimore. Some six months later and the pair has realized it's not only possible, but it's happening.
Baltimore City Paper |
Bret McCabe |
03-04-2008 |
Movies
Tags: Legacy Film Festival
'The Wire' Goes On the Recordnew
David Simon turns an unblinking eye toward daily journalism with its fifth and final season.
Baltimore City Paper |
Bret McCabe |
01-08-2008 |
Movies
Confessions of a Neocon TV Fannew
Or, how I learned how to stop worrying if watching torture condones torture and enjoy prime time American television.
Baltimore City Paper |
Bret McCabe |
12-18-2007 |
Movies