BY NICK POWELL FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES DENVER — Black activists and celebrities alike gathered this morning at the Movies With A Message Brunch at Earl’s Restaurant in downtown Denver to celebrate the progress made by Senator Barack Obama in his quest for the White House. But while the theme of the party was celebrating the past, Oscar-nominated director and producer Spike Lee focused on the present, particularly the sometimes-tenuous relationship between the hip-hop community and the Obama campaign. Mr. Lee, who has often uses hip-hop music and casts hip-hop stars in his films, said that rappers should, well, […]
MILE HIGH: Live And Direct From Denver
BY NICK POWELL DNC CORRESPONDENT On an otherwise slow day here at the DNC, I had my first official “Convention-celebrity experience” at the Movies With A Message brunch at Earl’s Restaurant in downtown Denver. While shadowing a reporter at the party, I mingled with the smiling Dems, took in the music of a small R&B band, and munched on the semi-mediocre breakfast spread. All was quiet, until suddenly … there’s Civil Rights Activist Rep. John Lewis (D-GA) … and Anne Hathaway … and Pras … and Al Sharpton. The celebrities came pouring in, and for a second I was completely […]
CINEMA: Un-American Activities
TRUMBO (2007, directed by Peter Askin, 96 minutes, U.S.) BY DAN BUSKIRK FILM CRITIC When Elia Kazan won his honorary Oscar back in 1999 there were some who voiced surprise that Sean Penn (among others) refused to applaud for the eighty-nine year old director. If one needs to understand why someone could be holding a grudge over Hollywood’s Communist witch hunts of the 1950’s, the life of its most famous victim, Academy Award winning screenwriter Dalton Trumbo, is a fine place to start. Peter Askin’s new documentary gives an intimate look at a how the blacklist effected one man and […]
VIMEO: The Saddest Music In The World
THE ARCHIVE from Sean Dunne on Vimeo. [HIGHLY RECOMMENDED] “Paul Mawhinney was born and raised in Pittsburgh, PA. Over the years he has amassed what has become the world’s largest record collection. Due to health issues and a struggling record industry Paul is being forced to sell his collection. This is the story of a man and his records. I hope you enjoy it.” — Sean Dunne, Director
TONITE: A Month Of Sundays
BY DAN BUSKIRK, FILM CRITIC The synopsis sounds like it could be a reality TV episode: two couples, “real people” like me and you, flirt and switch partners during a summer outing by the lake. What sets this apart from Cheaters is that it was shot in the Berlin of 1929 and the team that created would go on to make some of Hollywood’s crowning achievements. People On Sunday is a one-of-a-kind experiment made by a collective of young Berliners over a summer of Sundays in 1929. It’s a staggering list of talent, all a decade away from beginning their […]
CINEMA: Send Lawyers, Guns And Money
PINEAPPLE EXPRESS (2008, directed by David Gordon Green, 111 minutes, U.S.) BY DAN BUSKIRK, FILM CRITIC The Judd Apatow Comedy Machine is turning out yucks at such a dizzying pace I’m beginning to anticipate it sharpening to a fine tune and creating a universally-acknowledged instant classic — although I am not holding my breath. The Apatow brand may well have hidden ambitions to greatness but it seems almost unfair to expect it from their latest summer blockbuster, the stoner comedy Pineapple Express, wherein Seth Rogen’s lumpy-gravy likability teams up with James Franco’s loose-limbed, drug-addled slapstick sidekick for a shoot-em-up car-chase […]
NEWS CLUES: Like A Montauk Monster Mash Of Truth
WHY SO SERIOUS? Olsen Twin Refuses To Speak To DEA Without Immunity NEW YORK — Federal investigators want to question Mary-Kate Olsen about how Heath Ledger got two powerful painkillers that contributed to his accidental overdose death, but she’s refusing to talk without immunity, a law enforcement official said Monday. Olsen’s lawyer has twice refused requests for her to speak with investigators, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the investigation was ongoing. The lawyer, Michael C. Miller, said the “Full House” actress has nothing to do with the drugs, and has already told the government everything […]
BREAKING: Elizabeth Taylor Taken Off Life Support
DAILY MAIL: Elizabeth Taylor was put on a life support machine after suffering congestive heart failure, it was reported this evening. The 76-year-old’s condition was said to have deteriorated after she was initially diagnosed with pneumonia last week. Her children were at her bedside and doctors warned she might not survive, said the U.S. publication National Enquirer. UPDATE: LOS ANGELES — Elizabeth Taylor was hospitalized for an undisclosed reason but was expected to return home soon, representatives for the Oscar-winning actress said Thursday. A statement released by Dick Guttman, her Los Angeles-based publicist, did not say where Taylor was staying, […]
NPR 4 THE DEF: Giving Public Radio Edge Since 2006
FRESH AIR While his Office character may take himself seriously, actor Rainn Wilson seems to be all about the laughs. Wilson plays beet-farming, archery-loving middle-management kook Dwight Schrute on the NBC hit television series. Now, Wilson is trading his crossbow for a guitar in the new film The Rocker. In The Rocker, Wilson plays a failed hair metal musician. After he’s kicked out of his band, the group goes on to achieve great success. But when he joins his nephew’s garage band, he gets a second chance at fame. Wilson made his breakthrough as an actor playing an eccentric mortician […]
NPR FOR THE DEAF: We Hear It Even When You Can’t
FRESH AIR We humans have long wondered what separates us from the other animals — but neuroscientist Michael Gazzaniga may have given the topic more consideration than most. Gazzaniga, a pioneer in what’s called split-brain research, has just published Human: The Science Behind What Makes Us Unique. He talks to Terry Gross about his work, which involves investigating the varying functions of the left and right sides of our brains, and about how that research informs our understanding of the brain and human consciousness. Gazzaniga has spent the past 45 years studying the functions of the left and right brain. […]
DARK SIDE OF THE MOON: Apollo 14 Moonwalker Says Alien Visitations Been Covered Up For 60 Years
NEWS.COM: Former NASA astronaut and moon-walker Dr Edgar Mitchell – a veteran of the Apollo 14 mission — has stunningly claimed aliens exist. And he says extra-terrestrials have visited Earth on several occasions — but the alien contact has been repeatedly covered up by governments for six decades. Dr Mitchell, 77, said during a radio interview that sources at the space agency who had had contact with aliens described the beings as ‘little people who look strange to us.’ He said supposedly real-life ET’s were similar to the traditional image of a small frame, large eyes and head. Chillingly, he […]
ROLL THE CREDITS: Ebert Closes The Balcony
BY JAMES DOOLITTLE Mom’s Italian. 100%. And while she could have poured the over-exuberant passion that is the genetic cross my people bear into anything obvious — food, language, Catholicism, music, Sophia Loren — she opted at an early age to funnel my genetic disposition into her love for the cinema. We’d go every week, right after church, our reward for the penance that was 10AM mass. And without cable television, without a VCR, my cinematic cravings were only sated on the homefront via the weekly sit-down with Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert. Thankfully, then as now, they were accessible […]
SUN: Batman’s Mum & Sis Tried To Shake Him Down
THE SUN: Legal sources told The Sun the women said sister Sharon needed £100,000 to help her bring up her three children. They said Bale, 34, snubbed the plea and a row flared in his suite at the Dorchester Hotel in London’s West End. Welsh-born Bale was alleged to have “pushed and shoved” mum Jenny, 61, and Sharon, 41. But sources close to 6ft 2in Bale, who has another sister called Louise, said Jenny inflamed the situation by hurling insults about his wife Sibi, 38. A source close to the case said: Christian is a very wealthy young man and […]