Dustin Lance Black Interview

Over at Slant Magazine, I talked politics and film with Dustin Lance Black, the world's youngest-looking 37-year-old, and an increasingly vital figure in gay culture.

Read the full interview HERE.

Meryl Streep Essay: Acting, Politics with Oscar's Queen

For Fandor's Keyframe blog, I was happy to write a piece on none other than Meryl Streep, and two films that give you a rare glimpse into her actorly process: "The Iron Lady," coming soon to theaters, and "Theater of War," a 2008 doc about Meryl's role in the NYC production of "Mother Courage."

To read the article, now online at Fandor's Keyframe, CLICK HERE.

Directors Making Differences

For the annual Differnce Makers issue of South Philly Review, I compiled a small handful of filmmakers whose work affects things well beyond the cinema. I can see this list being very passionately argued, but there it is.

Th article is now available on the SPR site. CLICK HERE.

'The Ides of March' Review

George Clooney's latest directorial effort, "The Ides of March," is a crackling political work, almost impenetrable in its early stages because of all the dense and shrewd rarefied jabber. The script has a sort of obvious subtlety, strictly adhering to the show-don't-tell rule, yet still managing to show too much. That said, it's really good.

So, I thought I'd have some fun on Facebook, and re-create the IDES poster with the help of Michele Bachmann, but no one seemed to get (or like) the joke. Boo! I'm reusing it here, goshdarnit, with a side-by-side comparison to help the training-wheel crowd.

My review of "The Ides of March" is now online at SouthPhillyReview.com. CLICK HERE.

Minorities, Threads, Rednecks

Catching up with links to my contribtuions to The Film Experience. Most recently, I offered two new Cinema de Gym posts, and pitched in on a red carpet convo with site host Nathaniel and fashion guru Jose Solis.

My newest Cinema de Gym column is on "Minority Report," and how the aughts served as the era of Tom Cruise vanity: GET IT HERE.

Next is the red carpet convo, which primarily dealt with the premiere of "The Help," the film that has everyone and their maid whipping up minority reports of their own (nyuk, nyuk -- forgive all those grammatical snafus there). CLICK HERE for more.

Then there was my Cinema de Gym piece on "Blue Collar Comedy Tour Rides Again," maybe my favorite since starting the column. HERE IT IS.

Comedy