One of the great things about English actress Emily Blunt is that she carries no vestige of her characters beyond the set -- especially since she played the British Queen Victoria. At her roundtables for her latest film, The Young Victoria, Blunt showed no royal imperiousness, no contempt of the...

For veteran director/screenwriter Paul Schrader, seeing his film Adam Resurrected appear in this year's Israel Film Festival in New York is a little like coming around full circle. Originally released here almost a year ago, his strange surreal little black comedy of a film stars Jeff Goldblum as a concentration...

At 6' 3" the tall, lumbering Michael Shannon doesn't look like a leading man with his rumpled character-actor looks. Sometimes, Shannon's so quiet and reserved in person you wonder how he made the leap to stage acting. Yet when unleashed by a role, his presentation can be so overpowering that...

Judging by a short conversation with him, director Roland Emmerich doesn't seem megalomaniacal. In fact, he seems so down-home and unassuming, that you just want to grab him, a beer -- being the good German that he is -- and sit in rapt attention as he tells how he destroyed...

While actor Woody Harrelson has been characterized as a stoner, he's been no slacker lately, having worked hard on three movies coming out virtually back to back -- films that might help get him beyond his past. From starring in the hit television show Cheers to a film like White...

While everyone is marveling at the heroism of the female cop who stopped the Fort Hood gunman during his killing spree, it was not so long ago that women weren't allowed to serve in the military or on the police force. Hell, they're still not allowed to drive in some...

For a total newcomer like Gabourey "Gabby" Sidibe to find a starring role in any film was beyond comprehension. But to find one where her ultra plus-sized frame proved to be an asset was more than extraordinary. Nonetheless, this daughter of R&B/gospel singer Alice Tan Ridley and Senegalese father Ibnou...

Even if you miss the last day to see the authentic Maurice Sendak drawings and text from his classic children's book, Where the Wild Things Are at the Morgan Library, there is still a chance to view director Spike Jonze's cinematic interpretation, now in theaters.

Whether it be his few...

Certain cinema always seems to get the spotlight in the States, be it French or Polish or whatever is in vogue at the moment. At the same time, a lot of other national cinema gets overlooked.

During this month and in November, Czech cinema will no longer seem overlooked. Coinciding...

Whether playing former Prime Minister Tony Blair (The Queen) or talk show host David Frost (Frost/Nixon), veteran actor Michael Sheen has become known to American audiences for playing an incredibly versatile range of characters from werewolves to now, football coaches.

Though football -- oops, soccer to us Americans --...

However you assess the New York Film Festival, now in its 47th year, it certainly doesn't shy away from controversial films or directors. Topping the list this year is Lars Von Trier and his Cannes Golden Palm nominated film, Antichrist.

Due for release later this month, the film shocks...

British comic Ricky Gervais has one kicky concept behind his directorial debut, The Invention of Lying. On an alternate earth, humanity lacks the capacity for lying so truth-telling is just telling. People may speak the truth, but have no sense of humor and no idea of fiction. As a result,...

For 25 year old actor Jesse Eisenberg--who was awarded lots of attention for his troubled teenager in The Squid and The Whale--becoming a zombie-killing machine offers a curious shift in gears. Interspersed with his first-person voiceover as the wussy Columbus, Zombieland spotlights two survivors who forge an uneasy alliance to...

There's no question where director/producer Dan Stone stands on the issue of Japan's incessant drive to kill whales under the guise of doing research in the Antarctic Whale Sanctuary. After discovering the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society's sometimes illegal efforts to stop whalers as the primarily Japanese fleet prowls the southern...

Web phenomenon, book author and now film producer Tucker Max became an accidental Bad Boy through a combination of drink, smoke, willing women, too much testosterone and the Internet. Nonetheless, bad boy he became rather than a corporate lawyer. In his callow youth, he swaggered his way through a law...

Sitting at a conference table almost too full with cast members of I Can Do Bad All By Myself, the mulit-hyphenated Tyler Perry came to Manhattan to offer a lively Q&A session with a broad range of press people. While his latest film is remotely based on an early play...

In light of the on-going ecological crises we seem to face daily, it was not only a massive task that veteran doc director Robert Stone tackled by making his latest film, Earth Days, but it was crucial for a movie like this to have come out this summer (it debuted...

For such a young actor, Jonathan Groff has had this charmed life. First, he lands one of the highest profile roles in a musical, Spring Awakening, a show that was meant to confront Broadway conventions. Right after he leaves that show--with a Tony and Drama Desk Lead Actor nomination in...

Starting with its premiere at The Sundance Film Festival 2009 to its New York debut at New Directors New Films, Cold Souls was finally released in theaters this month after a long year of building interest and positive press reaction. Given its wonderfully wacked-out premise, it is a film that...

Who would have thought that this quirky, controversial, though sometimes uneven film, District 9 could knock a tentpole picture like Paramount's G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra off the top of the charts after its first week. But besides being a classic science fiction tale in the best sense of...