AltWeeklies Wire
Epic 'Santago' Can Be Easily Seen and Handled on a Three-disc Versionnew
The term "greatness" is often heaped upon Satantango as a fail-safe. It's easier to kowtow to the heft of the thing, rather than make sense of it--that is, submitting its tale of shiftless folk in a rural Hungarian hamlet (deceitful members of a farm collective) to real critical scrutiny.
New York Press |
Armond White |
07-24-2008 |
Reviews
Tags: Bela Tarr, Satantango
Standing Beside Philippe Petit Atop the World in 'Man on Wire'new
The biggest risk director James Marsh takes in Man on Wire, Marsh's documentary about Philippe Petit's daring tightrope walk between the Twin Towers in 1974, is in indulging Petit.
New York Press |
Simon Abrams |
07-24-2008 |
Reviews
The Quirky Adolescent Alienation of 'Boy A' Leaves a Lot Out of Life's Complexitynew
Over-stylized and under-thought, Boy A ruins its simple story of a young man in Manchester, England, trying to escape a grievous youthful error.
New York Press |
Armond White |
07-24-2008 |
Reviews
Tags: Boy A, John Crowley
Nanette Burstein Pretends to Document Our Country's Soul in 'American Teen'new
Not exactly a humanist document, American Teen actually belongs to the Disaster Movie genre. It gathers a mixed group of high school students in their senior year—a preppie, a jock, a nerd, a princess (The Breakfast Club cliches)--and leers at their hostility to each other.
New York Press |
Armond White |
07-24-2008 |
Reviews
Eddie Murphy's Skin Color -- Not His Movies -- Makes the Media Hate Himnew
By beautiful coincidence, the critical drubbing of Murphy's Meet Dave preceded controversy over the New Yorker magazines cover cartoon of Barack Obama as a terrorist-agent.
New York Press |
Armond White |
07-24-2008 |
Movies
David Carr: From Crackhead to Potato Headnew
We investigate the New York Times reporter's odd, ongoing obsession with the spud.
New York Press |
David Blum |
07-24-2008 |
Media
The Mae Shi is Like Los Angeles: Sprawling, Vast, Dynamicnew
The Mae Shi is the sort of group that can lose a lead singer (in this case founding member Ezra Buchla) but remain comfortably intact, enlisting a brand-new member (Jonathan Gray) to yelp into the mic without losing its manic stride.
New York Press |
Greg Burgett |
07-17-2008 |
Profiles & Interviews
A Joe Strummer Doc Explains the Many Contradictions of the Clash Man and Mythnew
As presented by Julien Temple, Strummer is his own narrator, drawn from archival radio shows. Filling in the gaps are bonfire conversations with family, friends and followers--kept equal by being kept "anonymous," their anecdotes not their names or titles the focus.
New York Press |
Tony Ware |
07-17-2008 |
Reviews
Yaz, the '80s Electropop Duo, 'Reconnects' After 25 Years Apartnew
The communication between the members of Yaz is much better on its current "Reconnected" tour than it was when they broke up. Then again, a lot has changed in the lives of keyboardist Vince Clarke and singer Alison Moyet. Now they can perhaps talk about one thing they have in common: parenthood.
New York Press |
David Chiu |
07-17-2008 |
Profiles & Interviews
Tags: electro pop, Yaz
The Key to Understanding Johnny To's Schizophrenic Sherlocknew
Mad Detective, Johnny To's latest collaboration with screenwriter/director Ka-fai Wai is just as cerebral and meaty as the pair's last project, Running On Karma, an action-comedy that had something for everybody.
New York Press |
Simon Abrams |
07-17-2008 |
Reviews
Minnie Driver's Un-glam Performance is Reason Enough to 'Take'new
Until FX's family-on-the-run series The Riches, Minnie Driver was famous mostly for being famous. Sure, there was Good Will Hunting and a memorable recurring role on Will and Grace, but most movie fans would be hard pressed to name any of her other roles.
New York Press |
Mark Peikert |
07-17-2008 |
Reviews
ABBA's Pop Goes Head-to-head with the Darker Rock of 'Lou Reed's Berlin'new
Both Mamma Mia! and Lou Reed's Berlin reveal what impact pop music has on the aesthetics and sensibilities of filmmakers, pointing to a bigger issue: What meanings do people take from pop music?
New York Press |
Armond White |
07-17-2008 |
Reviews
Mugger: A Rejection of Obama Could Bring Riots or Worsenew
If Obama loses (unlikely, but not out of the question), especially by a small margin, there’s sure to be a firestorm from the Left that will make the Florida recount of 2000 seem like a student-council election.
New York Press |
Russ Smith |
07-17-2008 |
Commentary
Inside Radical Living: A Communal Christian House in Bed-Stuynew
The story of Radical Living, a group of twenty- and thritysomething born-again Christians, begins with the Storbakkens. One day in the fall of 2006 Jason Storbakken was headed uptown toward his job at High Times, when a subway preacher caught his ear.
New York Press |
Joseph Huff-Hannon |
07-17-2008 |
Religion
NYC's Parks Commish Squares Off Against His Father Over the Future of Union Squarenew
When the parks department turned its attention to renovating Union Square Park, the clash between the community and city officials hit home for Adrian Benepe when his father spoke out publicly against his own son.
New York Press |
Kimberly Thorpe |
07-10-2008 |
Housing & Development
