With fearless performances in Greg Araki’s poetically disturbing MYSTERIOUS SKIN, in Rian Johnson’s piquantly original BRICK and now in writer/director Scott Frank’s THE LOOKOUT, Joseph Gordon-Levitt has established himself as one of the finest actors of his generation. As good as Frank’s script is, and make no mistake, it is superb, it’s Gordon-Levitt who takes… Read More »
THE LOOKOUT DVD
THE LOOKOUT is another showcase in the burgeoning career of Joseph Gordon-Levitt, one of the best actors working today. It may be a low key noir in which he is working, but his performance as Chris Pratt, a brain-damaged former golden boy, is nothing less than riveting. The evolution of his character surpasses the seeming… Read More »
THE EQUALIZER
THE EQUALIZER is non-ironic escapist fare superbly acted and directed. It doesnt indulge in psychological underpinnings or great philosophical conundrums beyond the need to keep the story going. It is a powerhouse of a vehicle for star and co-producer Denzel Washington that plays to his strengths and to the audience’ weakness for wanting someone to… Read More »
Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Matthew Goode and Scott Frank are on THE LOOKOUT
Scott Frank’s script for THE LOOKOUT had been around for a decade or so before he found a way to have it made with him as the director. When I talked to him and co-stars Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Matthew Goode on March 14, 2007, he seemed to think it was worth the wait. With both… Read More »
Armistead Maupin & Patrick Stettner Pay Attention to THE NIGHT LISTENER
The story on which Armistead Maupin based his novel and now film THE NIGHT LISTENER proves the old axiom that truth is stranger than fiction. When I spoke to him and to the director of the film, Patrick Stettner, on July 26, 2006, I was curious what conclusions they had drawn about the human capacity to… Read More »
Wes Craven’s RED EYE
Wes Craven grew up in a family where watching movies was considered a sin. It’s one of the many things I wanted to ask him about when we chatted on August 8, 2005. I was also curious about the subtle but unmistakable feminist bent of his latest film, RED EYE, not to mention why co-star Brian Cox looked… Read More »
CRASH With Ryan Phillppe and Paul Haggis
CRASH represents a sea change in careers moves for many of the people involved, not the least director and co-writer Paul Haggis, a veteran of television sitcoms. The provocative story of anger, fear, and race relations in contemporary Los Angeles also provides Ryan Phillippe with one of his best roles in years, maybe the best… Read More »
David Cronenberg’s SPIDER
David Cronenberg is on familiar turf with his latest film, SPIDER. The twist is that, while the film is rife with the horror, it stems from seeing the sane world through the eyes of a schizophrenic. When I talked with the soft-spoken and erudite director, I asked why he eschewed his usual trappings of blood and gore.… Read More »
Dr. Sasha Bardey Knows his SIDE EFFECTS
Of all the people involved in the making of Steven Soderbergh’s SIDE EFFECTS, Dr. Sasha Bardey may have been the perfect interivew subject. The film is a psychological thriller of the first order, with the classic Hitchcockian motif of an innocent bystander being suddenly entangled in a fiendish plot that spells certain doom for that… Read More »
Belen Atienza, Sergio Sanchez & Juan Antonio Bayona Take on THE IMPOSSIBLE
Respect was a word that came up often as I was talking with the filmmakers who brought THE IMPOSSIBLE to the screen on October 31 2012. Based on the true story of one family’s harrowing experience trying to survive in the aftermath of the Christmas Day tsunami in Thailand, the film was shot on location… Read More »