Julianne Moore
Movie Review: May December
4.5 stars out of 5 I have gone on record as being a big fan of both Julianne Moore and Natalie Portman (who once guest-edited an issue of my magazine). For Todd Haynes, I had to play a little catch-up, but he’s become one of my favorite directors. So I had high expectation for this […]
Movie Review: Gloria Bell
4.5 stars out of 5 As I watched this movie, I realized that I’m a pretty neurotic fella. If this film was about me, it would be a lot more “oh does she like me, should i call, should i wait, why did i say that thing that i said.” A Woody Allen flick, basically. […]
Movie Review: Suburbicon
4 stars out of 5 With the Brothers Coen seemingly preoccupied with their upcoming Netflix series The Ballad of Buster Scruggs, we may have to wait a while for a true Coen Bros. cinematic offering. Still, their last writing-only work, Bridge of Spies, was a more than worthwhile stopgap, and there was no reason to […]
Movie Review: Maggie’s Plan
3.5 stars out of 5 Legendary screenwriting guru Syd Field claimed that in the first 10 minutes of a movie, viewers should learn just about everything they need to know about the story and characters. Maggie’s Plan sees Syd’s wager and raises him… down to 2 minutes! The very first thing we see Maggie do […]
The Wit and Wisdom of Lee Israel, Vol. 5 (Mar. 2011 – Mar. 2012)
Today would’ve been Lee Israel’s birthday, and we are soon approaching the anniversary of her death. Like Elvis, Michael Jackson, Andy Kaufman, Tupac, etc., Lee’s had quite the posthumous year. To recap: Times obituary, announcement of a movie based on her book starring reigning Oscar-winner Julianne Moore to be written and directed by Nicole Holofcener, […]
Movie Review: Freeheld
4 stars out of 5 First things first: Yes, the movie is set in New Jersey, but no, it is not set in the town of Freehold. And the second thing: If you are unfamiliar with the case of Laurel Hester and you have an interest in justice and equality, you really need to see […]
The Wit and Wisdom of Lee Israel, Vol. 4 (2010)
Having obtained a newly uncovered photo of Lee as a little girl (with her brother Edward), I thought it was high time to return to her collected e-mails. Since our last installment, we learned that the extremely funny, talented, and charming Chris O’Dowd has joined the cast with the already announced, amazingly wonderful Julianne Moore in […]
The Wit and Wisdom of Lee Israel, Vol. 3 (2009)
With baseball season underway, it seems like a good time to return to the collected e-mails of Lee Israel, as this batch heavily features her interest in our national pastime. Lee routinely watched Yankees games on TV even if, as you’ll see, she wasn’t particularly root-root-rooting for the home team. The previous year, with the […]
Jack Silbert, curator