Film & TV
Criminal injustice
Documentarian Jessica Sanders' film After Innocence follows the lives of nine wrongfully convicted prisoners who, after years of false imprisonment, are released with the help of newly introduced DNA evidence.
Justice, 50 years later
In August 1955, a 14-year-old African American named Emmett Louis Till left Chicago to visit relatives in Money, Mississippi; during his stay he was killed for whistling at a white woman and became a catalyst for the American Civil Rights Movement.
George clooney never saw an egg mcmuffin he didn't like
Good Night, and Good Luck director George Clooney produces and stars in the hot new political thriller Syriana, about the ins and outs of the global oil business.
Go for the gold
Transamerica: Felicity Huffman plays a transsexual who discovers she has a son from when she was still a man.
Walk this way
Coming on the heels of recent Hollywood biopics such as Ray and The Aviator comes Walk the Line, the heartwarming story of the man, not the legend, that is Johnny Cash.
Peter Boyle, renaissance man
I just wanted to keep working," says Everybody Loves Raymond star Peter Boyle about his long and successful acting career.
Sink or schwimm
This past week Street Film sat down with David Schwimmer at Philadelphia's Sofitel to discuss his college days, life after Friends and his role in the recently released Duane Hopwood. Schwimmer plays the title character in this comedy-drama, an alcoholic father whose life is unraveling before his eyes. How are you going about choosing roles in terms of differentiating yourself from the Ross character? I don't consciously look for roles that will differentiate me from Ross as much as I look at roles that will challenge me as an actor, and those are more likely roles that are different from that character.
HOLY CRAP, HARRY POTTER 4!!!!!
It is very difficult to cram 734 pages into a film, even one which is two-and-a-half hours long. However, this is what director Mike Newell (Mona Lisa Smile) has successfully accomplished with the fourth installment of the Harry Potter series, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. While fanatic fans of the book will be able to pick out what is missing (no house elves), Newell does an excellent job of cutting out the sub-plots to create a clear, concise storyline that follows the main plot of the book. Harry Potter (Daniel Radcliffe) is a young wizard who is back for his fourth year at Hogwart's School of Wizardry and Witchcraft, where the historic Tri-Wizard Tournament is going to be taking place.
Lost in space, in a good way
Zathura, which promotes itself as "a new adventure from the world of Jumanji," involves a pair of siblings left alone at home who find and play a forgotten board game which gives them a lot more than they bargained for.
Pride (in the name of beating a dead horse)
Pride & Prejudice features some fine performances, lovely scenery and costumes and a serviceable script, but ultimately begs the question: why make another version of this beloved Jane Austen novel, especially after the wonderful 1995 BBC production starring Colin Firth? Well, one answer is that Keira Knightley, playing Miss Elizabeth Bennet, looks ravishing in period dress.
Clop clop bang bang - like an amish drive-by
Street Film recently spoke with Robert Downey Jr. and Val Kilmer, stars of the upcoming comedy-thriller Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, about drugs, gay detectives, and obsessive-compulsive disorder. Street Film: Robert, do you ever feel as though you've been pigeonholed by American critics and robbed of the recognition you deserve because of your highly publicized struggle with drug addiction? Robert Downey Jr.: I was robbed-- Val Kilmer: I'll answer that on behalf of Robert.
Half dollar, whole story
Rapper Curtis "50 Cent" Jackson, who has had success with his albums Get Rich or Die Tryin' and The Massacre, recently talked with Street about prosthetics, Shakespeare and his upcoming autobiographical film. Street Film: Was it a big transition going from making music videos to making movies? 50 Cent: Absolutely.
Finally, some good news out of iraq
"Welcome to the suck" is the motto, repeatedly delivered by sniper Troy (Peter Sarsgaard), that summarizes the experience of the Marines in the first Gulf War, at least as far as Jarhead portrays the experience.
Paradise is not lost
Director Hany Abu-Assad has created a masterpiece in Paradise Now, the story of Said (Kais Nashef) and Khaled (Ali Suliman), two Palestinian friends preparing for a suicide bombing in Tel-Aviv.
My kippah's cooler than yours
You may not know it, but you and the Hasids have a lot in common. At least that's part of the message of Israeli director Giddi Dar's latest film, Ushpizin. The film tells the story of Moshe Bellanga (played by Shuli Rand), an Israeli who has recently adopted the lifestyle of a sect of Hasidic Jews known as Breslevers. As the Jewish harvest festival of Sukkot approaches, Moshe and his wife Malli are penniless and unable to prepare for the seven-day holiday.
This movie...how do you say...ah, yes...blows
Despite a dramatic opening, golden Z's and a suspenseful score, The Legend of Zorro never reaches an ultimate climax.
This is not a superhero Movie
The focus of Shopgirl is Mirabelle Buttersfield (Claire Danes), a quiet, insecure glove saleswoman at Saks, an ingenue from Vermont living alone in her L.A.
Holy crap -- Uma Thurman is on j-date?!?
In Prime, Meryl Streep portrays the Jewish Mother rather convincingly as Lisa Metzger, a therapist who discovers her patient (Uma Thurman), who's 37, divorced and definitely not Jewish, is dating her 23-year-old son (Bryan Greenberg). Sure, she'd rather her son be a CPA or a lawyer than follow his true calling as an artist and worries about the religion of her future grandchildren over a pastrami on rye, but Streep refrains from beating the stereotype to death.
The Future of 'Star Wars'
They are the words that aspiring Jedi Masters and Sith Lords have dreaded for years: "This is it. We've done Episode I through Episode VI and there won't be anymore films at all.
