A Tale of Two Oscar Nominees
Got a chance to catch a couple of Oscar contenders recently.
The first was Inglorious Basterds, Quentin Tarantino’s homage to the WWII films of the 1940s, 50s and 60s. There are some terrific scenes in the film. The opening segment with Christoph Waltz as the cold-blooded, but charismatic, Nazi
The Wolfman Meets Jimmy Kimmel
I had the opportunity to see The Wolfman this week. The latest reimagining of the classic Universal monster is directed by Joe Johnston from a screenplay by Andrew Kevin Walker and David Self, based on the original 1941 script by Curt Siodmak.
There’s a lot to like in this version. The monster
A Football Film Quiz for
Super Bowl Sunday
It’s here -- Super Bowl Sunday -- sports fans biggest day of the year! And in tribute to the two remaining NFL teams -- the Indianapolis Colts and the New Orleans Saints -- here’s a challenge for football fanatics. You may be an expert at offensive and defensive stats, but how well do you know
Discovering Darwin
I have to admit that going into Creation, the new film starring Paul Bethany and Jennifer Connelly, my knowledge of its subject -- Charles Darwin -- was limited. I know the name. Who doesn’t? And I know he wrote Origin of the Species which outlined the theory of evolution and natural
Michael Hoffman Learns to Love Tolstoy
with a Trip to The Last Station
Michael Hoffman admits he has never had much interest in doing a film about Leo Tolstoy.
“I’m not a massive Tolstoy fan,” says Hoffman as we sit in his hotel room towards the end of a long, rainy New York day. “I love Dostoyevsky more. I love Chekhov more.”
In fact, the first time he read The
Holmes Sweet Holmes
A Cinematic Quiz About the World’s Most Famous Detective
Sherlock Holmes, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s legendary fictional detective, is hitting the big screen once again in a terrific reimagining from director Guy Ritchie and writers Michael Robert Johnson, Anthony Peckham and Simon Kinberg from a screen story by Lionel Wigram and Johnson. And trust me,
Love is Not So Simple the Second Time around for
Meryl Streep and Alec Baldwin in It’s Complicated!
What a concept -- a romantic comedy that is actually intelligent and geared towards adults. Hollywood used to make them all the time. But in these days of Transformers and comic book movies, they are a rarity at best. So when one comes along that is as good as It’s Complicated, it’s that much
Ho! Ho! Huh?
Christmas Specials You Won’t See on Television this year.
The holiday season is upon us and we all know what that means -- non-stop Christmas-themed programming throughout the television dial. From such holiday classics as A Charlie Brown Christmas and Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer to the modern holiday takes Merry Madagascar and Shrek the Halls, every
Christopher Plummer and Helen Mirren Pull Out All the Stops in The Last Station.
When compiling a list of great novelists, it would be impossible not to include Leo Tolstoy. His best known works, War and Peace and Anna Karenina, are literary masterpieces. But even so, he’s not the first name that comes to mind as the subject matter for a feature film. At least not to this
All Oprah... All the Time!
As many of you have likely heard, Oprah announced last week she is ending her afternoon talk show. After 25 years, the queen of daytime syndication will pull the plug on The Oprah Winfrey Show in 2011. But before you panic, don’t think Oprah is getting out of the television business. Quite the
Do You Have a Clue?
A Puzzle of National Importance
We had the opportunity to attend a unique but not uncommon event this week at The Pierre Hotel in New York. The topic was one of the most important issues presently facing the country, and those who spoke about it are some of the top experts in the field. We’re talking about names that if you
THE CHIEF MISCHIEF-MAKER
Over the past 15 years, Chris Koseluk has written hundreds of entertainment-based articles for numerous magazines and newspapers, including The Hollywood Reporter, Variety, Premiere Magazine, Video Business, Movie Times , Newsday, The San Francisco Chronicle, The Portland Oregonian, The Orange County Register and the Houston Chronicle. His work has appeared online at TVIndustry.com, Directorsworld.com, eGuiders.com and the Writers Guild (www.wga.org).
