Ottimo Woody Allen: To Rome With Love
Another European capital, another delightful Woody Allen film. Although not as outstanding as his last outing, “Midnight in Paris, Allen’s “To Rome with Love” imports the trademark neuroses of his main characters to another land. This time, instead of a surrogate Allen-type, as Owen Wilson played in “Paris,” the audience gets the pleasure of seeing Allen himself, as himself. And if that...
With Racial Inequality Rife on the Small Screen, One Reality Show Flaunts its Diversity
Quick. Were there any black characters on “Friends,” anyone? If so, they were background players. And not to single out a favorite comedy series, it was and is among the majority of television shows whose core Caucasian-ness is an attribute, rightly or wrongly. Diversity is an issue that has long simmered on the back burner and intermittently moves to the front, as in these early days of summer that have brought a raft of...
The Newsroom: Sorkin’s Latest Drama Goes Behind the Headlines
After an extremely successful film awards season – he won the Oscar for writing “Social Network” and co-wrote another kudo contender, “Moneyball”– Aaron Sorkin back on television, this time on HBO. No stranger to shows set in the world of television itself (“Sports Night,” “Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip”) Sorkin’s newest world revolves around “The Newsroom,” set in and around a...
Critics Crown New TV Darlings: Road to the Emmys Takes a Turn
The Critics’ Choice Awards were an important bellwether of this past winter’s plethora of film awards, anointing early favorites like “The Help” and “The Artist” that went on to be big winners at guild awards and at the Oscars. So it is with even greater momentum that two “smaller” television shows—“Homeland” and “Community”– go into the full thrush of Emmy awards season. Up against formidable...
Meryl Moments and More at WIF’s Crystal + Lucy Awards
When Meryl Streep is in the house, you know it’s going to be a night to remember. In fact, there should have been a Streep drinking game, similar to the Marty Scorsese one that made the rounds during this past winter’s awards season, for all the times she was mentioned at the 2012 Women in Film Crystal + Lucy Awards, presented June 12 at a packed gala held at the International Ballroom of the Beverly Hilton. Hosted...