AltWeeklies Wire
Michelle Williams Finds a Safe Haven With Outsider Director Kelly Reichardtnew
It's a rare bankable star who lends her name to a tiny project budgeted at $300,000 and shot over 18 days with a mostly volunteer crew by a director whose name, had Williams bothered to ask permission from her agents, would doubtless have inspired the response "Who?"
L.A. Weekly |
Ella Taylor |
12-19-2008 |
Profiles & Interviews
Clint Eastwood, America's Directornew
"You've made the first movie of the Obama generation!" exclaimed an audience member, as he rushed up to Clint Eastwood after a recent screening of Gran Torino. "Well," the 78-year-old actor-director replied, without missing a beat, "I was actually born under Hoover."
L.A. Weekly |
Scott Foundas |
12-19-2008 |
Profiles & Interviews
Tags: Clint Eastwood, Gran Torino
Catherine Deneuve: Belle De 50 Ansnew
The actress on her new film, A Christmas Tale, and her long, glorious non-career.
L.A. Weekly |
Scott Foundas |
11-21-2008 |
Profiles & Interviews
How Lance Hammer Earned His Beautiful New Film 'Ballast'new

It is but one of the many remarkable qualities of Ballast that its characters possess their quiet, unassailable dignity from the start rather than having it revealed (or, worse, bestowed upon them) by the filmmaker.
L.A. Weekly |
Scott Foundas |
11-14-2008 |
Profiles & Interviews
From Manchester to Mumbai with Danny Boylenew
He wanted to make a movie from inside, and he's succeeded with Slumdog Millionaire, a vibrant, fast-paced, gorgeously mounted and soulful Oliver Twist makeover about Jamal, an inner-city youth who reaches the finals of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?
L.A. Weekly |
Ella Taylor |
11-14-2008 |
Profiles & Interviews
Oliver Stone on 'W.' and the President Who Would Be John Waynenew

W. attempts to cut through the familiar agitprop from both sides of the political spectrum in order to take the long view on its subject and his impact on the course of American history.
L.A. Weekly |
Scott Foundas |
10-17-2008 |
Profiles & Interviews
Bill Maher's Cross to Bearnew

Maher has been hammering away forever at institutionalized faith, but Religulous, which Lionsgate quixotically plans to position as an Oscar contender in the documentary category, raises the bar to a whole new dimension of attack, as you might expect from a movie with Borat director Larry Charles at the helm.
L.A. Weekly |
Ella Taylor |
10-10-2008 |
Profiles & Interviews
Mickey Rourke Returns as 'The Wrestler'new
However you term it, The Wrestler, at least where Rourke is concerned, almost didn't happen at all. Although Aronofsky and screenwriter Robert D. Siegel developed the project with Rourke in mind, they found it impossible to secure even the modest financing required for a sometimes explicitly violent wrestling movie starring an actor who hadn't headlined a major motion picture since the first George Bush was in office.
L.A. Weekly |
Scott Foundas |
09-26-2008 |
Profiles & Interviews
Woody Allen's European Vacation: 'Vicky Cristina Barcelona'new
He lived the young man's dream in Spain; next, he directs Larry David in NYC and Puccini for L.A. Opera.
L.A. Weekly |
Scott Foundas |
08-18-2008 |
Profiles & Interviews
Searching for the Ghosts of Bunker Hill's Native American Pastnew

Resuscitated 1961 documentary recalls stark lives of L.A.'s urban Indians.
L.A. Weekly |
Matthew Fleischer |
08-18-2008 |
Profiles & Interviews
'Step Brothers': Blended Family Valuesnew
Director Adam McKay and Will Ferrell relish working on an absurdist high wire, and the whole point of their movies isn't how any one scene relates to another but rather how much they can chip away at the logic that holds most movies together. Baghead also reviews.
L.A. Weekly |
Scott Foundas |
07-25-2008 |
Profiles & Interviews
John Waters: The Trash Auteur Speaks Out -- Way Outnew

On gay marriage, the presidential race, the corrupting influence of irony and the release of his new 'Til Death Do Us Part DVD.
L.A. Weekly |
Steven Mikulan |
07-07-2008 |
Profiles & Interviews
Director Timur Bekmambetov's Stock Rises with Action Fansnew

Bekmambetov happily agrees that the movie may be the year's fastest, bloodiest and chattiest Hollywood picture, but he denies that it's a celebration of ruthlessness.
L.A. Weekly |
Ella Taylor |
06-27-2008 |
Profiles & Interviews
Director Sergei Bodrov Retraces the Footsteps of Genghis Khannew

Just over a decade ago, Bodrov made his mark in the West with his Academy Award–nominated movie Prisoner of the Mountains. After frustrating stints as a director-for-hire, he did the smart thing and made the movie he wanted to make.
L.A. Weekly |
Ella Taylor |
06-13-2008 |
Profiles & Interviews
Uwe Boll Goes 'Postal'new
Notorious German director spars with his critics, makes an intentional comedy.
L.A. Weekly |
Luke Y. Thompson |
05-27-2008 |
Profiles & Interviews