How Do You Become Leo DiCaprio?

Posted February 17, 2010

You knew Leonardo DiCaprio was a movie star the first time you saw him on-screen. He keeps getting better because he watches the other movie stars he works with — and he learns. Here he talks about what he’s picked up along the way. Yeah, I can tell you what I learned from the mustard jar. When I was fifteen, I got this amazing opportunity to audition for this plum role opposite Robert De Niro and Ellen Barkin in This Boy’s Life. Before that, it was The New Lassie or a Bubble Yum commercial. They were using the mustard-jar scene […]

the art of the excellent trailer

the art of the excellent trailer

Posted February 10, 2010

I read this article in the Hollywood Reporter about the new Avatar trailer. It was just enough to push me into writing a blog I’ve thought about for some time (yes, I know it’s 3

Leonardo DiCaprio Keeps Things Light

Posted February 7, 2010

We know that Leonardo DiCaprio is an electrifying actor, an ardent environmentalist and a supermodel magnet. What hardly anyone outside his inner circle knows is perhaps the most surprising thing about him. His idea of fun is to sit around with his buddies and make up ridiculous characters and then try to do their voices. “I’m actually an incredible goofball,” says DiCaprio, whose new film, Shutter Island, opens in two weeks. “I do imitations and joke around all day. I keep things light in my life.” DiCaprio tilts his head, lifts his eyebrows and puts on a small, “I know […]

The Book of Eli

The Book of Eli

Posted January 31, 2010

The first thing I have to say about The Book of Eli is that it’s very stylishly directed. The landscape isn’t just desolate, it’s white hot from being burned by the sun. There is a epic feel

When in Rome

When in Rome

Posted January 30, 2010

I laughed out loud. a couple of times. You’d be surprised how much impact that has on a movie’s score.

Other than that, When in Rome is an interesting premise that is not well executed.

Extraordinary Measures

Extraordinary Measures

Posted January 23, 2010

Extraordinary Measures is a good movie. It’s sentimental but not in an inauthentic way.

The performances, in fact, are all very good. Brendan Frasier looks like he’s put on weight and

the best tv of 2009

the best tv of 2009

Posted January 7, 2010

I’ve acquiesced to the fact that this is more “tv I loved in 2009” than actually “the best tv of 2009”. But what critic’s list isn’t? You never read, “I hated this show, but damn was it well

Up in the Air

Up in the Air

Posted January 2, 2010

Up in the Air is a film that’s incredibly topical for our current culture, touching on the zeitgeist of our economic downturn and the emotional ramifications of living in that, hoping to

James McAvoy| The Movieline Interview

Posted January 1, 2010

James McAvoy’s latest, the semi-biopic The Last Station, drops him into the eye of an ensemble hurricane featuring Helen Mirren, Christopher Plummer and Paul Giamatti. The 30-year-old-Scotman plays Valentin Bulgakov, an idealistic young Russian recruited to work as the secretary of the celebrated novelist Leo Tolstoy (Plummer). But what begins as an act of moral conscience soon deteriorates into a hot political mess as Tolstoy’s inheritance-obsessed wife Sofya (Mirren) and estate overseer Chertkov (Giamatii) vie for Valentin’s loyalty. Which is to say nothing of the young man’s Tolstoyan vow of celibacy, which is awfully hard to uphold with the beautiful […]

Dakota Fanning| New Moon’s New Vamp

Dakota Fanning| New Moon’s New Vamp

Posted January 1, 2010

At fifteen, Dakota Fanning is finally outgrowing the adjective that’s been applied to her so frequently during her decade-long career: precocious. It’s not a bad word, of course, and doubtless there are actresses three times her age who would kill to have worked with Robert De Niro, Tom Cruise, and Denzel Washington—to say nothing of the prodigious natural talent that got Dakota there. But if her brief turn in this month’s The Twilight Saga: New Moon signals anything, it’s a willingness to shed the self-serious image. Asked if she’s going through any off-screen teen angst, Dakota says no. “I get […]