Gregory Weinkauf

Will Smith is cool. I've known this for years, because I'm a writer, and I have a dictionary, and when I open it to "cool" there's a photo of the Fresh Prince. But still, when I found myself face-to-face with Will Smith the real-life person, hastily finishing a quick bite...

Rihanna is quite good in her big-screen debut.

Now that I have your attention, this article is actually about the extraterrestrial concepts which inform the big new movie Battleship. For those three people in Borneo who've missed the marketing onslaught, let me give you a quick primer.

The electric car, the mobile phone, the computer tablet: innovations impress me. I tend to give nature's perfect patterns top priority; however, in this field I am also increasingly illuminated by science, and when an advance is presented -- almost as if revealed by Star Trek's caring and compassionate Dr....

Los Angeles intrigues. Myriad are the explorations thereof, from classic noir to reality shows, sci-fi to skid row, high-tech to lowriders. Much like the universe itself, the place feels infinite and ever-expanding. Thus is my interest piqued when artists seek to define -- or summon a definition of -- it....

One of the world's greatest singer-songwriters has just begun a new tour of the world. And happily, this tour is called "Breakfast in America," not only cementing his reputation with that much-adored album, but beginning, indeed, here in America. Then going farflung through many lands. Then returning Stateside (some dates...

You cannot prepare for it. Your expectations may never match the reality. Willem Dafoe has played vampires, monsters, goblins (of the green variety), pervs, psychotherapists, bikers and counterfeiters running wild in Ronald Reagan's America, and even that kinda conflicted Christ guy. Now, in a very big movie about that other...

You've heard of it. You've wondered about it. You've seen films of the classic ones on laserdiscs, VHS tapes and new-fangled DVDs. If you're really lucky (or live in the U.K.) there's a reasonable chance you've even attended one of them. It appears, astounds, leaves a distinct impression, then bounces...

So I walk into the studio, and suddenly I'm in the presence of a rock god. Joe Perry is sitting on a big black leather sofa, casually strumming a sweet Guild, which he promptly sets aside so we can talk business.

The current business is the legendary Aerosmith guitarist's blazing...

Too often, people's concept of motion pictures involves heated discussions over totally disposable information such as which movie will be, fleetingly, #1 at the box-office. You know what? Who cares! Let us never forget that cinema, however entertaining, is an art form. And like any art form, it has its...

Holiday movies and whimsy go hand in hand (unless they don't), and frankly this year Arthur Christmas knocks my stockings off. It is most gratifying to witness tried-and-true formulae (Santa, reindeer, elves, prezzies) brilliantly blended with high-tech upgrades (Web-savvy toddlers, spaceship-like "sleigh," tracking systems literally straight out of NASA) --...

Hollywood went Euro last week, in celebration of The Adventures of Tintin, the long-awaited motion-picture adaptation of the classic adventure comic series by late Belgian artist Hergé (a.k.a. Georges Remi). "Quoi?" you say. Well, Tintin is a young crackerjack investigative reporter who gets into Indiana Jones-size trouble with his terrier...

When I was but a blinkered knave of an undergrad, I studied for a year abroad in England, and -- apart from the castles and the most fickle pop-music scene in the world -- two things impressed me about the place: 1. English people drink like crazy; and 2. English...

Sometimes a guy gets called "Renaissance man," and many guys (to their peril) call themselves that -- but rare and wonderful is the real deal. Consider the application form: Master of multiple arts? Erudite intellectual? Poet, polyglot, polymath, pillar of society? Maybe even: Larger-than-life persona? Risk-taker and rule-breaker? Well, check,...

There's a new thriller out this weekend, concerning the 18th Apollo mission to the moon (and the scary things which, in 1974, allegedly occurred there), and there is some speculation on the part of its producers as to whether the footage is "real" or not. Okay, Messrs. Weinstein, fair enough....

Love is in the air-conditioning at the biggest "Star Trek" convention in the whole world. I am in hot-hot-hot Las Vegas, Nev., which is pretty darned weird, and having one of my greatest weekends ever. Why? Not gambling. Not hookers. Not Manilow. Rather, most of the original crews of the...

A young woman's life is the most fascinating thing on Earth -- or, at least, after war, the most popular thing. Young, middling and old, female, male and other, we all obsess (consciously or unconsciously) over what it means to be feminine and evolving -- via love, lust, idolatry, fashion,...

INT. MAUSOLEUM - DUSK. A pleasant little party is underway. (You read that right.) I approach William Shatner (the William Shatner) and, gesturing out the doorway toward nearby Paramount Pictures Studios, I tell him: "Out there, just over that wall -- I used to work there." Mr. Shatner regards me...

Playing at the legendary Greek Theatre in Los Angeles on Saturday, July 16, the Monkees were so sensational that I simply can't not tell you about it. Yes, those Monkees. As in, "Hey, hey, we're the..." They're unabashedly celebrating their 45th anniversary with a new tour, and it's a brilliant...

Oh bloody hell, here we go!" intones our beloved Ron (Rupert Grint) early on in the allegedly-final film of the smashingly-successful Harry Potter film series -- and do we ever go. Unlike the loose ends and wandering weirdness of this two-parter's predecessor, the new Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows:...

There's a new musical going around, and if you're smart you'll establish your international, cross-cultural credibility by touting it early and often. The Seduction of Ingmar Bergman is as unique and wonderful as musical theatre gets: a "what-if" fictional fantasia plopping the celebrated (and moody) Swedish director smack-dab in the...