EDITOR’S NOTE: This interview originally published on March 14, 2014 Matt Zoller Seitz is the TV critic for New York magazine and Vulture.com and a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in criticism. A Brooklyn-based writer and filmmaker, Seitz has written, narrated, edited or produced over a hundred hours’ worth of video essays about cinema history and style for The Museum of the Moving Image and The L Magazine, among other outlets. His five part 2009 video essay Wes Anderson: The Substance of Style was later spun off into the hardcover book The Wes Anderson Collection. Seitz is the founder and […]
CINEMA: Back In The USSR
DEATH OF STALIN (Directed by Armando Iannucci, 107 minutes, 2018, USA) BY DAN TABOR FILM CRITICThe Death of Stalin is a hilariously morose comedy based on the French graphic novel La mort de Staline by Fabien Nury (Les chroniques de Legion). Director Armando Iannucci (Veep) brings his razor-sharp eye for political satire to Stalinist Russia without skipping a beat in a film that is way more relevant than it has any right to be today. The director even opted to “tone down real-life absurdity” to make the film, which has been banned in Russia, Kyrgyzstan, Azerbaijan, and Kazakhstan a bit […]
CINEMA: Won’t You Be My Neighbor?
From Academy Award®-winning filmmaker Morgan Neville (20 Feet from Stardom), Won’t You Be My Neighbor? takes an intimate look at America’s favorite neighbor: Mister Fred Rogers. A portrait of a man whom we all think we know, this emotional and moving film takes us beyond the zip-up cardigans and the land of make-believe, and into the heart of a creative genius who inspired generations of children with compassion and limitless imagination. Opens June 8th in select theaters.
WORTH REPEATING: Being Bill Hader
Illustration by MARIO ZUCCA THE RINGER: If you think about it, Bill Hader’s long and successful career can be traced back to the day he took his SATs—or, rather, the day he chose not to take his SATs. There he was, an anxious 16-year-old sitting in a classroom in Tulsa, Oklahoma; the time had come to make that first important step toward college by proving how well he remembered algebra and how many multisyllabic words he knew. “I put my name on the thing and everything,” Hader remembers, but the moment started to feel too big. The knowledge that with […]
WORTH REPEATING: The Crucifixion Of Meek Mill
Illustration: Sean McCabe for Rolling Stone; Photograph: Karl Ferguson Jr. ROLLING STONE: Judges in Pennsylvania have broad discretion over the length and terms of jail bids. “It’s not uncommon, with harsher judges, to see 10-year probations for lesser offenses,” say one veteran criminal lawyer who represents the poor in Philadelphia. “Brinkley’s the judge you’d least want to be supervised by. Any failure to live by her rules will be punished.” She isn’t the only judge to hang long leashes, but is, according to every lawyer I spoke to, the most needlessly severe. “She had a parolee before her who was […]
HOT DOCUMENT: Unfinished Business
LAWFARE: The minority staff of the House intelligence committee released the following report on Tuesday evening. On Monday, the committee’s majority announced that it had concluded its inquiry into possible Russian meddling in the 2016 U.S. election. MORE
GEEK SQUAD: How Captain America Got Woke
Artwork by ALEX ROSS It can be overwhelming to get into comics these days. Most characters are published for 50+ years so “start at the beginning” like you would a TV show is not always an option. A good starting point is to follow a specific writer’s run. This is an especially appealing option when a writer has established brilliance in a different field of work begins writing a comic. Acclaimed journalist Ta-Nehisi Coates has written Black Panther for two years now and will soon be writing Captain America. Captain America #1 drops on July 4th written by Coates with […]
NPR 4 THE DEAF: We Hear It Even When U Can’t
FRESH AIR: For more than a year now, journalists Michael Isikoff and David Corn have been devoted to covering the Trump campaign’s ties to Russia. Isikoff was the first reporter to reveal that there was a U.S. intelligence investigation into Russian ties to a figure in the Trump campaign — Carter Page. Corn was the first to reveal the existence of the infamous Russia dossier, the unverified collection of reports alleging connections between the Trump campaign and Russia compiled by former British intelligence officer Christopher Steele. Now, in their new book, Russian Roulette, the two men attempt to put […]
BEING THERE: Flaming Lips @ Parx Casino
ELECTRIC HORSEMAN: Wayne Coyne astride his mighty Unicorn last night PREVIOUSLY: For someone who’s been a fan and a follower of the Flaming Lips for going on 27 friggin’ years—who was there when the acid hit the punk rock, when Jesus still shot heroin and priests still drove ambulances, back before she started using Vaseline, before clouds started tasting metallic, back before we realized the sun don’t go down, it’s just an illusion caused by the world spinning ’round—going to Wayne Coyne’s house is, without exaggeration, like winning a golden ticket to visit Willy Wonka’s Chocolate Factory. I amble up […]
GEEK SQUAD: Who Is Cheetah?
Director Patty Jenkins just confirmed that Kirsten Wiig has been cast as Cheetah in the upcoming Wonder Woman sequel. Wonder Woman’s rogues gallery of arch-nemeses is a bit more obscure than your garden-variety, friendly-neighborhood superhero. So who is Cheetah? Well, like many comic book characters from the ‘40s Cheetah look has morphed through the ages. Fans of the old cartoon Super Friends may remember her as an archaeologist in a cheetah onesie. But the character evolved throughout the years and the name has been given to a few different people. Currently Cheetah is a werecat-type person with enough super […]
LOCAL BOY MAKES GOOD: Kurt Vile On Portlandia
NOISEY: Over the years, Kurt Vile has proven pretty good at whatever he role he decides to fill, whether it’s shaggy solo folk singer, leader of a barn-burning rock band, a sideman in the War on Drugs, or a space-cowboy counterpart in duets with Courtney Barnett. Vile joins Carrie Brownstein and Fred Armisen on IFC’s final season of Portlandia, playing Brownstein’s personal roadie. MORE
EXCERPT: From Russia With Love
MOTHER JONES: The rest of the day was as hectic as the first: a press conference with 300 Russian reporters and more interviews, including one with Roberts in which Trump was pressed again about Putin. Do you have a relationship with Putin and any sway with the Russian leader? Roberts asked him. Trump was unequivocal: “I do have a relationship.” He paused. “I can tell you that he’s very interested in what we’re doing here today. He’s probably very interested in what you and I are saying today. And I’m sure he’s going to be seeing it in some […]
GEEK SQUAD: Girls Kick Ass
Jessica Jones season 2 debuts on Netflix tonight. It’s been more than two years since the super-powered private detective Jessica Jones (Krysten Ritter) defeated the mind controlling rapist Killgrave (David Tennant). Killgrave dominates the first season’s plot with his ability to literally tell everyone what to do. So where does the show go after killing him off at the end of season one? Trailers suggest that Jessica will fight another person with her powers this season so one could expect a bit more action than the psychological thriller. But the mystery of how Jessica (and possibly others) got their […]