Click here to listen to the interview. The first thing you notice about Ben Mendelsohn when you meet him in person is how very blue his eyes are. The second thing is his impish sense of humor coupled with a penchant for being the perfect host (he insisted on ordering coffee for the both of… Read More »
SOLO: A STAR WARS STORY
Click here for the flashback interview with Alden Ehrenreich for BEAUTIFUL CREATURES. SOLO: A STAR WARS STORY annotates and amplifies the mythos surrounding that devilish anti-hero of the franchise, Han Solo. Set well before the events of EPISODE IV: A NEW HOPE, it introduces us to Han before he learned to fly, but after he… Read More »
STAR WARS: THE LAST JEDI
Good and evil are inextricably entwined in STAR WARS: THE LAST JEDI. It makes for a pleasing metaphysical subtext to a film with spectacular action sequences, pointed references to the political economics of the class struggle, and a character in Benicio Del Toro whose nihilism carries with it a whiff of Zen philosophy at its… Read More »
STAR WARS: THE FORCE AWAKENS
What you really want to know is whether or not J. J. Abrams has worked his magic and saved the Star Wars franchise. The answer is not just yes. But, rather, YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It is perfection. That is all you really need to know and, while I will not do this film the disservice of lessening… Read More »
A MOST VIOLENT YEAR for Oscar Isaac
Sometimes in an interview there’s a defining line. And in talking to Oscar Isaac about JC Chandor’s A MOST VIOLENT YEAR on December 5, 2014, it came towards the end our conversation, when I had asked what I called the “obligatory Star Wars question”. As Isaac was describing his method for getting into character as an… Read More »
CLERKS 2
CLERKS 2 isn’t just everything a perfect sequel should be, it’s everything a superb film should be, too. Right on top of the zeitgeist, and fiendishly clever in it commentary on it, it skewers political correctness within a profane framework that unwaveringly champions middle class values with an infectious elan. It picks up with the eponymous… Read More »
Alexandre O. Philippe Makes the Case for THE PEOPLE VS. GEORGE LUCAS
Is George Lucas more than just a filmmaker with a franchise worth billions? Is he also that franchise’s #1 Fanboy? It’s one of many intriguing questions in Alexandre Philippe’s documentary about the relationship the fans have with the creator of the Star Wars universe. While Philippe demurred about the exact number of Star Wars action… Read More »
Brian O’Halloran & Jeff Anderson are CLERKS 2
June 15, 2006, the day I spoke with Brian O’Halloran and Jeff Anderson about CLERKS 2, the sequel to Kevin Smith’s indie cult classic, CLERKS, was marked by a tremor at 5am. Brian had been lathering up in the shower (as he put it), Jeff had been sleeping peacefully, and they were both disappointed to… Read More »