tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-134682892011-12-14T21:42:27.458-05:00New York City cinema, from the art house to the red carpetS.T. VanAirsdalehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15177745968215128352noreply@blogger.comBlogger481100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13468289.post-1120060350409874962005-06-29T11:40:00.000-04:002005-06-29T11:53:03.103-04:00

Great news: The lovely people at indieWIRE have invited The Reeler into their fashionable fold, so I will be packing up and heading out of Blogspot. For all two of you who may have been so kind as to bookmark this site, please note The Reeler's new home: http://blogs.indiewire.com/thereeler.Or you can never go wrong with just www.thereeler.com. I hope to see you there...

S.T. VanAirsdalehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15177745968215128352noreply@blogger.com41tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13468289.post-1120053599385964172005-06-29T09:44:00.000-04:002005-06-29T10:12:10.126-04:00

Cinderella Man may have failed for a number of reasons, but AMC Theaters is not giving up on Ron Howard's boxing melodrama that easily. In fact, the chain is so smitten (or desperate, or both) that it is offering a money-back guarantee in each of its 3,500 theaters: If the film is not good, then it is free.Cinderella Man, now with fewer calories and bearing the AMC "Stamp of Earnest

S.T. VanAirsdalehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15177745968215128352noreply@blogger.com18tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13468289.post-1119983443660338132005-06-28T14:50:00.000-04:002005-06-28T14:59:32.910-04:00

Well, this sucks: The Reeler recently learned that the venerable Film Forum is involved in a multi-party lawsuit stemming from its repertory presentation of the Luis Buñuel masterpiece Los Olvidados.According to Variety, Film Forum and American distributor Koch Lorber are named in a suit filed by Mexican media titan Televisa, which claims it holds exclusive rights to the 1950 film. Film Forum,

S.T. VanAirsdalehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15177745968215128352noreply@blogger.com31tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13468289.post-1119965367752939912005-06-28T09:00:00.000-04:002005-06-28T09:53:26.906-04:00

Just as Batman Begins begins its slow box-office wane, Warners has the PR ball rolling in earnest for the only summer film The Reeler has been genuinely anticipating: Tim Burton's adaptation of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Johnny Depp is featured in the current issue of Newsweek describing the "Snoopy dances" he did upon earning the role of Willie Wonka, while screenwriter John August has

S.T. VanAirsdalehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15177745968215128352noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13468289.post-1119961479487678792005-06-28T07:58:00.000-04:002005-06-28T08:28:57.993-04:00

So we knew Woody Allen was deserting us for the more burnout-hospitable climes of London, but a report in today's Page Six only intensifies the sad dread all of New York feels at losing one of its favorite sons.Allen went on the record with Der Spiegel to discuss the possibility of returning to NYC to make a film dealing with the ideas and aftermath of 9/11. Well, maybe "discuss" isn't the right

S.T. VanAirsdalehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15177745968215128352noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13468289.post-1119903438408563472005-06-27T15:38:00.000-04:002005-06-27T16:24:46.020-04:00

You may have heard about Craig Brewer's post-screening discussion of Hustle and Flow at the MGM Screening Room last Friday. The first-time filmmaker joined producer Stephanie Allain in chatting up indieWIRE editor Eugene Hernandez's film class, discussing the trials, tribulations and five-year process of getting his troubled pimp opus Hustle to the screen.You know, it is hard out here for a pimp.

S.T. VanAirsdalehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15177745968215128352noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13468289.post-1119898273986659252005-06-27T14:32:00.000-04:002005-06-27T14:51:16.940-04:00

Attention, film geeks and fledgling NYC writer/directors waiting tables until your landing your big break: Warner Bros. is prowling the city for talent.All right, so we are not talking about an American Idol-esque hunt, so don't go revising your treatments just yet. Basically, the studio's execs have made a succession of recent deals that mean business might be a little brisk around here in the

S.T. VanAirsdalehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15177745968215128352noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13468289.post-1119882197284298112005-06-27T09:48:00.000-04:002005-06-27T10:23:17.290-04:00

On Sunday, Variety columnist Army Archerd got the honor of at least the last few weeks when Bronx President Alfonso Carrion bestowed him a spot on the Bronx Walk of Fame (also known as Grand Concourse).Army Archerd (with wife Selma) can finally cross "Bronx immortality" off his list of things to do (Photo: Variety)Archerd was born in the Bronx in 1922 and became Variety's resident gossip in 1953

S.T. VanAirsdalehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15177745968215128352noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13468289.post-1119848254134675182005-06-27T09:03:00.000-04:002005-06-27T09:39:49.186-04:00

Pretty much everyone has a thing for Marlon Brando. But for New Yorkers who have that thing AND a few hundred grand to toss around, this is your lucky week.Like new! Barely used after 1973! Brando's Health-O-Meter scale (Photo: Christies)Christie's is featuring an auction of some odds and ends from the late Method Maniac's estate—everything from a fertility statue given to him by Val Kilmer to

S.T. VanAirsdalehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15177745968215128352noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13468289.post-1119843550534397092005-06-27T08:20:00.000-04:002005-06-27T08:44:17.396-04:00

Hal Hartley dropped by SoHo's Apple Store last Friday to answer questions from a standing-room only audience that sampled behind-the-scenes footage from his latest film The Girl From Monday. Among the film-school geekery ("Um, who are your influences?") and techno-wonkery ("Is that camera the Panasonic X-12-DVmatic-zzzzzzzzzzz…?"), Hartley also fielded a few inquiries about his forthcoming escape

S.T. VanAirsdalehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15177745968215128352noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13468289.post-1119617880595609622005-06-24T08:52:00.000-04:002005-06-24T08:58:00.596-04:00

I will be spending some quality time today upgrading the site and preparing for an imminent move, so please pardon the three-day weekend. I swear that I am not having any fun.The Reeler will be back bright and early (or at least early) Monday, June 27. Thanks as always for your understanding. -- STV

S.T. VanAirsdalehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15177745968215128352noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13468289.post-1119617395150605942005-06-24T08:28:00.000-04:002005-06-25T13:35:55.676-04:00

The Late Bloomer's Sumida Masakiyo: Not a happy boy (Photo: Subway Cinema)--Arguably the best (and easily the most wrenching) film playing at this year's New York Asian Film Festival, Go Shibata's The Late Bloomer tells the story of Sumida, a wheelechair-bound loner whose unrequited love for his caretaker plunges him into psychopathy. Call it what you will: an experimental bloodbath, Taxi Driver

S.T. VanAirsdalehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15177745968215128352noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13468289.post-1119551021646639892005-06-23T14:23:00.000-04:002005-06-23T14:23:41.650-04:00

Defamer and NYDN's Rush & Molloy tag-team Tom Cruise's New York sojourn today, which is great for The Reeler since I am still awaiting a returned call from Paramount about tonight's War of the Worlds premiere. Please excuse my choking sobs. OK, I'm done.Anyway, if I can't cover the premiere, the least I can do is help you save time by parsing the second-hand news:1) Cruise banned print media from

S.T. VanAirsdalehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15177745968215128352noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13468289.post-1119545852568844062005-06-23T12:48:00.000-04:002005-06-23T13:04:08.143-04:00

The Reeler had heard from a projectionists union source that an IFC Center opening-day screening of D.A. Pennebaker's classic Dylan documentary Dont Look Back featured four false starts and a disgruntled Pennebaker associate complaining to the union.That's news to Pennebaker.On the DVD tip: Pennebaker"No, I don't know anything about it," Pennebaker just told me. "The theater was great. I remember

S.T. VanAirsdalehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15177745968215128352noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13468289.post-1119530799625276782005-06-23T08:23:00.000-04:002005-06-23T08:53:44.886-04:00

I had read something about this on Ain't It Cool yesterday, but I did not believe it. Would not believe it. Alas, the International Licensing Excellence Awards are real, and now they have official winners whose souls are a little bit crispier this morning.Omigod omigod! Another fucking Shrek movie! Yay licensing! (Photo: Moriarty, Ain't It Cool)Variety's Willa Paskin reports:Spidey nabbed three

S.T. VanAirsdalehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15177745968215128352noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13468289.post-1119460441875033352005-06-22T13:01:00.000-04:002005-06-22T15:31:41.050-04:00

Breaking down last weekend's box office tallies reveals a stunning fact: Andrew Wagner's self-financed, self-distributed, self-referential classic The Talent Given Us collected the second-highest per-screen gross in the country.The Wagners were everywhere in New York last weekend (Photo: STV)Strong reviews and word-of-mouth helped Wagner's film pull in $12,700 on a single screen at the Angelika

S.T. VanAirsdalehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15177745968215128352noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13468289.post-1119454118005214362005-06-22T11:35:00.000-04:002005-06-22T11:53:50.230-04:00

The Reeler recently had a chance to catch up with Grady Hendrix, the NYC writer/film buff/raconteur behind Subway Cinema and the New York Asian Film Festival. Hendrix contributed a great piece to Slate last week about the hassles of organizing a film festival on your own--perils on which he elaborated before another packed screening at Anthology Film Archives.Asian film fans roll up their

S.T. VanAirsdalehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15177745968215128352noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13468289.post-1119446424915455642005-06-22T09:27:00.000-04:002005-06-22T09:50:35.850-04:00

Remember when life was simple and comic book heros were free to save the city without prohibitive legal restraint? Yeah, well, me neither, and the same probably goes for the clowns running the show at 20th Century Fox, who are worried that Sony's sure-to-be-Earth-shattering new Tim Allen project will threaten their $700 miilion X-Men franchise.Fox is so terrified that Zoom--based on a graphic

S.T. VanAirsdalehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15177745968215128352noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13468289.post-1119441659355741932005-06-22T07:44:00.000-04:002005-06-22T08:26:48.220-04:00

Variety reports that Broadway's Tony-winning musical take on Hairspray has stalled on its way to the screen. New Line pushed production to spring 2006, which--excuse me!--does not work for rookie co-directors Jerry Mitchell and Jack O'Brien, the latter of whom is previously committed in New York. Tom Stoppard, Lincoln Center, something like that. Producers are now gunning for director Rob

S.T. VanAirsdalehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15177745968215128352noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13468289.post-1119368439718086292005-06-21T11:29:00.000-04:002005-06-21T11:51:06.856-04:00

Tennis sucks, Woody. When can we go to a Knicks game again? (Photo: BBC)The imminent closure of the Beekman Theater has me kind of maudlin, especially when recalling the great scene in Annie Hall in which Alvy Singer spars uneasily with an autograph-seeking fan outside the theater while waiting to meet Annie. Losing the landmark sucks enough, but Variety reports that--gasp!--we could be losing

S.T. VanAirsdalehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15177745968215128352noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13468289.post-1119356756309631372005-06-21T08:04:00.000-04:002005-06-21T09:38:04.740-04:00

You are down to your last six days to check out a flick at the Upper East Side's iconic Beekman Theater, one of the city's few remaining single-screen movie houses. Reuters reports that the landlord is reclaiming the property next week to turn it into--like New York needs more of these--a medical facility:That leaseholder is Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, and the Beekman -- along with

S.T. VanAirsdalehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15177745968215128352noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13468289.post-1119296529567123522005-06-20T15:33:00.000-04:002005-06-21T13:11:53.046-04:00

The Reeler is shocked--SHOCKED!--to hear about Jennifer Lopez's latest travails in Mexico, where the Bronxette is shooting Bordertown for director Gregory Nava. Rumor has it that J-Lo is pissed off that Mexico is poor and dirty and that everybody laughs at her Uggs and that nobody will rent her a villa and nobody can find $10,000 a day for her hairdresser Oribe.But wait: A quick bit of research

S.T. VanAirsdalehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15177745968215128352noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13468289.post-1119284036758992502005-06-20T11:57:00.000-04:002005-06-20T12:14:55.280-04:00

Film Threat features a new interview with director Andrew Horn, whose spellbinding documentary The Nomi Song recounts the rise and fall of New Wave New York's resident alien Klaus Nomi. The DVD is now available from Palm Pictures and features enough falsetto rock to send your dog into seizures. For those of us too young to experience the city's rock scene when it was, um, good, Horn's film

S.T. VanAirsdalehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15177745968215128352noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13468289.post-1119271746214858392005-06-20T08:57:00.000-04:002005-06-22T08:16:40.760-04:00

You have to give Warner Bros. credit for taking marketing in new, apocalyptic directions with Batman Begins. First, the studio sold its leading lady to Tom Cruise (or did Katie Holmes maybe, just maybe, sell herself?). And on Sunday, NASCAR featured the Batman Begins 400, the first race to ever award naming rights to a movie.Besides wondering when and where studio marketers souls will combust,

S.T. VanAirsdalehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15177745968215128352noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13468289.post-1119267190148738212005-06-20T07:58:00.000-04:002005-06-20T08:05:44.876-04:00

Current score: Union, 5--IFC box office, 0 (Photo: STV)IFC Center was a little sleepy on its grand opening weekend, owing in no small part to the projectionists union presence in their cattleguard corral on Sixth Avenue. The Reeler spent a while surveying the scene on Sunday, observing the empty Waverly at IFC restaurant and eavesdropping on filmgoers' mixed impressions of Me and You and Everyone

S.T. VanAirsdalehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15177745968215128352noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13468289.post-1119035937571877902005-06-17T15:16:00.000-04:002005-06-22T09:45:51.593-04:00

This weekend's worthwhile cinematic diversions in New York:James Marsden takes Elizabeth Banks for a ride in Heights (Photo: Sony Pictures Classics)--Chris Terrio's Heights (above) adapts Amy Fox's one-act play about five New Yorkers whose lives interweave over the course of one day. That's a new one. At any rate, Glenn Close chews plenty of delicious city scenery as a Shakespeare-quoting diva

S.T. VanAirsdalehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15177745968215128352noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13468289.post-1119034955611788742005-06-17T14:30:00.000-04:002005-06-17T15:02:35.616-04:00

NBC/Universal--keepers of the King Kong flame and some pretty shitty Nielsens of late--is unleashing its 800-lb. gorilla on prime-time TV June 28 as part of a "roadblock" campaign, which will flood all nine of its subsidiary networks simultaneously with a trailer for Peter Jackson's NYC-shattering remake:The specific schedule for the airing of the teaser trailer on each of the NBC networks is as

S.T. VanAirsdalehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15177745968215128352noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13468289.post-1119027040037816452005-06-17T12:50:00.000-04:002005-06-22T07:29:30.773-04:00

Imagine if you will: You are a 40-something independent filmmaker striving to break out with your first feature film. You have $30,000 on hand, you have a crew of two (including yourself) and you have a 12-year-old script resurrected pretty much by accident. You have one shot to make it work. And you compound the pressure by casting your immediate family. In a road movie. For a month.Are you

S.T. VanAirsdalehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15177745968215128352noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13468289.post-1118977950339424602005-06-17T08:24:00.000-04:002005-06-17T08:46:26.486-04:00

The Reeler hears that top-level IFC brass sent out an e-mail Thursday promising a comp lunch to its addressees who attend today's noon showing of Me and You and Everyone We Know.Yes, they have learned as we all have: Despite a new theater, industry hype, a critically acclaimed film and a little award called the Camera d'Or, there's nothing like free pub food to put asses in the seats.Related

S.T. VanAirsdalehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15177745968215128352noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13468289.post-1118932915911243532005-06-16T13:35:00.000-04:002005-06-25T11:59:24.026-04:00

It is sooooooooo past your bedtime... IFC President Jonathan Sehring (L) and Miranda July with Me and You co-star Miles Thompson (Photo: STV)The Reeler returned to the IFC Center on Wednesday, this time to see an actual movie: The new venue premiered Miranda July's buzz-packing debut Me and You and Everyone We Know to not one, but two packed theaters of rapturous applause and accolades, along

S.T. VanAirsdalehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15177745968215128352noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13468289.post-1118944738568289202005-06-16T12:44:00.000-04:002005-06-17T08:22:40.226-04:00

The Reeler's dear friends at indieWIRE report today that the educational wing of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has passed along $83,000 in grants to New York City film programs. Award amounts range from $20,000 for Flaherty/International Film Seminars to $2,500 for Women Make Movies, with another $30,000 earmarked for programs upstate.We knew that given enough time, even a place

S.T. VanAirsdalehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15177745968215128352noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13468289.post-1118941696933176822005-06-16T12:38:00.000-04:002005-06-16T13:08:52.120-04:00

Apparently, the efficient work of a Regan Media mole will keep runaway bride Jennifer Wilbanks off Katie Couric's couch--and a percentage of $500K out of Judy Regan's pocket. But all is not lost! Now Regan is resolute in getting this bitch a made-for-TV movie come hell or high water, because it will touch us deep in the cockles:"I am looking forward to developing the scripted project with

S.T. VanAirsdalehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15177745968215128352noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13468289.post-1118869424841276292005-06-15T14:50:00.000-04:002005-06-15T17:07:34.943-04:00

In case you have yet to fill the Wednesday-night TV vacuum left behind by another trenchant season of American Idol, the FX network offers tonight's premiere of Morgan Spurlock's reality show 30 Days. The premise concerns regular folks who spend a month living outside their social or ideological comfort zone to see how it, you know, really feels to be gay or Muslim or a filthy hippie in

S.T. VanAirsdalehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15177745968215128352noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13468289.post-1118854140362905752005-06-15T12:38:00.000-04:002005-06-16T14:13:20.670-04:00

Sharon Waxman reports that the powers-that-be at Universal are scratching their heads about the failure of their Summer Movie Sweepstakes entry--Cinderella Man--to recoup half of its $88 million cost in two weeks of wide release.The expensiver they are, the harder they fallYeah, wow, great question, guys. Let's think about it:--You plunked your June 3 release date square between Star Wars and Mr.

S.T. VanAirsdalehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15177745968215128352noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13468289.post-1118777319251676182005-06-14T15:25:00.000-04:002005-06-14T15:28:39.256-04:00

Gothamist features an intriguing interview today with Swedish filmmaker Teresa Fabik, who says she drops into the city from time to time for inspiration, renewal and the occasional bum-baiting:"I didn’t know anyone, and at first I was pretty lonely. The first or second day I was talking to a bum in Tomkins Square [sic]. He was about to leave, but then I offered him a bottle of vodka so that he

S.T. VanAirsdalehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15177745968215128352noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13468289.post-1118779069464607402005-06-14T15:10:00.000-04:002005-06-14T16:41:28.500-04:00

At the drive-in, IFP-styleIFP is kicking off this year's free Drive-In at the Rock series tonight with a screening of David LaChapelle's kinetic krump-umentary Rize, which should be pleasant in 65 percent relative humdity. The Baxter, SHOW/BUSINESS, Alchemy and Rosanna Arquette's music documentary All We Are Saying round out the week's schedule.But in related, perhaps more stunning news, an

S.T. VanAirsdalehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15177745968215128352noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13468289.post-1118767804484802442005-06-14T12:49:00.000-04:002005-06-14T16:29:23.243-04:00

The San Francisco Chronicle reports that the uber-powerful Wayans clan is negotiating to set up shop at the vacant Oakland Army Base, which would mean that New York may at last be rid of their withering burden:"Oakland stands to gain significant prestige from the establishment of a film production studio," said a report by the Daniel Vanderpriem, Oakland's director of economic development. "

S.T. VanAirsdalehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15177745968215128352noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13468289.post-1118760070229582832005-06-14T08:59:00.000-04:002005-06-14T12:55:48.896-04:00

When Michael met Mario (Photo: Oxfam International)The Sundance Channel has locked down guests for the first five episodes of the "Iconoclasts" series it announced last month, in which a pair of cultural icons get together for some mutual J/O and a little lite talk about what fuels their creative passions. The pairings Sundance has in mind to start off with, followed by each episode's title (I am

S.T. VanAirsdalehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15177745968215128352noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13468289.post-1118639924687599792005-06-13T17:18:00.000-04:002005-06-14T12:55:18.903-04:00

No matter how much writers lives depends on selling what they write, their natural inclination is to not even bother. If we wanted to sell—had the nerve, skill, comportment, whatever—we would be salesmen first, writers second and make a better living. I think I'm right on this. I should be querying editors and agents right now, in fact.This would explain Bob Verini, the giant who shepherded about

S.T. VanAirsdalehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15177745968215128352noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13468289.post-1118666682359303792005-06-13T08:41:00.000-04:002005-06-14T12:54:05.796-04:00

Manohla Dargis reports that New York avant-garde film pioneer Jonas Mekas is representing his native Lithuania is Venice's Bienniale, which is kinda like the Olympics for visual artists. But, you know, without the judging scandals or $2.2 billion stadium pushes. Look for plenty of doping, however.

S.T. VanAirsdalehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15177745968215128352noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13468289.post-1118484940757851452005-06-10T17:23:00.000-04:002005-06-11T07:14:24.410-04:00

This is probably not what the folks behind the new IFC Center had in mind. On the Sixth Avenue theater complex's opening night, staff seemed to outnumber guests three-to-one, the projectionists' union stood by protesting the theater's eschewing of union labor and Harvey Weinstein dropped in just long enough to kick the tires and declare the place a winner.The old Waverly balcony, 114

S.T. VanAirsdalehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15177745968215128352noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13468289.post-1118434103717707322005-06-10T15:52:00.000-04:002005-06-10T16:08:23.720-04:00

Laura Holson writes persuasively--if not indirectly--today about yet another reason why New York is superior to Hollywood. Maybe when Bill Gates can get his dick out of Hutch Parker's mouth long enough, he can memorialize it in cement in front of Grauman's Chinese Theater.

S.T. VanAirsdalehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15177745968215128352noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13468289.post-1118342634665433172005-06-09T14:10:00.000-04:002005-06-13T09:21:08.073-04:00

Lincoln Center opens the 2005 Human Rights Watch International Film Festival tonight with a benefit showing of Pete Travis' Irish terrorism opus, Omagh. Based on the true story of a 1998 car bomb that killed 31 peple in a small Northern Irish market town, the film earned Travis the British equivalent of an Emmy earlier this year. Crash the $250-a-head opening-night benefit party to clink beer

S.T. VanAirsdalehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15177745968215128352noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13468289.post-1118486792219350382005-06-09T09:46:00.000-04:002005-06-17T15:19:55.570-04:00

Hello. I am your host, Jimmy Fallon. (Photo: Fox)By yet another stroke of gruesome misfortune, the MTV Movie Awards are upon us. Tonight's broadcast is the Standards & Practices-friendly edit of Sunday's event in Los Angeles, trimmed to fit snugly and bloodlessly in its prime-time slot. As if a tape-delayed awards show isn't bad enough, Napoleon Dynamite was the grand prizewinner, marking the

S.T. VanAirsdalehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15177745968215128352noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13468289.post-1118257964161641032005-06-08T14:56:00.000-04:002005-06-11T07:17:20.856-04:00

Because nobody in New York has heard anything about their little summer film Mr. & Mrs. Smith, the wicked publicity wizards at 20th Century Fox devised a stunt that would have made Bill Veeck practically shit with jealousy.Should I answer that, honey? (Photo: Fox)As I write this, a young woman at Fox's Sixth Ave. enclave is chained to a desk literally calling every Smith in the fucking phone book

S.T. VanAirsdalehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15177745968215128352noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13468289.post-1118256548825626102005-06-08T14:22:00.000-04:002005-06-08T14:55:53.393-04:00

As you have probably heard, cancer has claimed Anne Bancroft at age 73. Among the ways The Reeler recommends celebrating the Bronx native's life, in varying degrees of obviousness:1) Duh: Have another look at The Graduate. She was only 35 at the time of shooting (five years older than Dustin Hoffman, in fact), yet she set the standard by which "the older woman" will forever be judged. Which is

S.T. VanAirsdalehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15177745968215128352noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13468289.post-1118201430258379892005-06-08T11:27:00.000-04:002005-06-11T07:19:17.556-04:00

The French get a bad rap in America, which really is too bad, because they are fabulous hosts. Except when the air conditioning isn't working, or when party guests can roam an entire floor of a Beaux Arts masterwork without finding a place to sit down. Or when they insist on always speaking French, a hallmark of their people that never fails to drives me insane.But neither language nor Monday's

S.T. VanAirsdalehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15177745968215128352noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13468289.post-1118115570196747102005-06-07T08:58:00.000-04:002005-06-25T11:37:43.700-04:00

On May 12, New York Times go-getter David Carr continued his paper's commitment to stating the obvious with a piece plunked on the front of that day's Arts section. The headline read: "New York: 'Little' Films Grow Big." Carr's article invoked a succession of small- to medium-sized indie distributors like Killer Films and ThinkFilm, as well as some of the more successful (and powerful) studio

S.T. VanAirsdalehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15177745968215128352noreply@blogger.com1