Dotty Brilliance
Here’s one of my immutable rules of theatrical enjoyment: If there’s a play by George Bernard Shaw, Oscar Wilde, or Noel Coward in production, don’t …
Return to the Future
Brutal, intense, and irreverent, the original “Terminator” (1984) was anything but a Sunday School story. And yet, it was one of the best messianic allegories …
Color and Pomposity
“Waiting for Godot” (directed by Anthony Page), Samuel Beckett’s masterpiece of existential angst, opened at Studio 54 on Broadway this spring with a sparkling cast …
Slapping the Driveway
“State of Play” is a good old- fashioned newspaper thriller in which the curmudgeonly journalist solves the case using wits, not guns. The film is …
Chords and Discords
“The Soloist” begins in the way that “State of Play” ends: opening credits roll as newspapers are printed, bundled, and delivered. The papers are a …
December Song
Like newspaper columnists, film documentarians are always on the look- out for a great story. The difference is, they have to begin filming the story …
The Audacity of a Dope
As the stock market plummeted below the 7,000 mark, reporters asked President Obama what he thought of the way the market was responding to his …
Hurry Up and Own
While President Obama tries to equalize Americans by taxing the rich and giving to the poor, along comes a dark little comedy that celebrates the …
Hurry Up and Waste
“Confessions of a Shopaholic” is based on one of those ubiquitous “pink books” you see on bookstore display tables with whimsical sketches of modern young …
A Triumph of Technique Over Meaning
The story is so current it seems lifted from today’s headlines: a beautiful blond toddler is taken from her bed while her mother visits a …