in which the author discusses five books he'd read, if time permitted.

1. Sensing the Past: Hollywood Stars and Historical Visions, by Jim Cullen
When I think of Jim Morrison, I don't think of Jim Morrison, but of Val Kilmer as Jim Morrison in Oliver Stone's The Doors. And when I think of Justice Earl Warren, [...]

*Audiences, actors and City Paper have already questioned yesterday's Oscar picks. (Even Best Supporting Actress nominee Maggie Gyllenhaal was shocked by her nomination.) It seems to be one of the few ceremonies this year that isn't a direct repeat of another—the Screen Actors Guild awards were the Golden Globes, part two.  District 9's Best Picture [...]

Morning, readers.
*So a kind soul has invited me to New York this spring for a performance of Two Gentlemen of Lebowski. If you haven't yet gotten down, the gist is that screenwriter Adam Bertocci went viral with a 75-page, iambic pentameter rendering of the iconic Coen Bros. screenplay, which will now be staged at the [...]

Hello and happy MLK Day! I'm going to blame the long weekend and its lack of arts news for the fact that I'm now going to write ~200 words about the Golden Globes: They were really awful! James Cameron wants to export his arty utopianism to small children in Africa and Asia! Ricky Gervais was [...]

All a country song needs, the modern proverb goes, is three chords and the truth. In the case of Bad Blake, the truth ain't pretty. Jeff Bridges plays a washed-up, liquor-soaked former country star in Crazy Heart, which critic Tricia Olszewski reviews in this week's City Paper. She writes:
Bridges is generating Oscar talk, and rightly [...]

Morning, y'all! Last night, I discovered the trailer for the new Jeff Bridges movie Crazy Heart. As far as trailers go, this one looks promising. Bridges, playing an alcoholic country star, has the Bocephus thing nailed down tight; Maggie Gyllenhaal, as the reporter who helps Bridges turn his life around, looks smart and womanly; christ, [...]