New York Theater News: Sons of the Prophet

Can't quite figure out the rave reviews for this one, but at least it wasn't written by an actor or a screenwriter. Too much of that around.

Live Design: Man and Boy

Back to Broadway with Frank Langella, and a revival of Lemon Sky Off.

Popdose: At the New York Film Festival

Witnessing A Separation, experiencing Melancholia, and feeling Shame.

The Popdose Interview: Max Allan Collins

A chat with the prolific co-author of The Consummata, his latest collaboration with Mickey Spillane--dead five years and still going strong.

Popdose: Double De Palma

Back to back posts? Indeed. And a double bill of Brian De Palma on Blu-ray. Say hello to these little friends!

Popdose: Notes on Current Movies

Yes, the time slipped away, again. Sigh. But I'm back, reviewing Moneyball, Drive (pictured), and The Debt for Popdose. And I never go away entirely, as you can see by checking my Facebook and Twitter feeds. Look for me there and say hello, won't you?

Popdose: Contagion

Catch it.

Cineaste: Fall issue interviews

The Fall issue is up, and there's plenty to browse, including the online portion of our incredible film preservation symposium. But if I may call your attention to two pieces: an interview with Guillermo del Toro and Guy Pearce about their new film Don't Be Afraid of the Dark, and another chat with the inimitable Malcolm McDowell. By me.

Popdose: Problems with The Help

I'm not all smiles over the top-grossing adaptation.

Popdose: Don't Be Afraid of the Dark

Bailee Madison is going to need a bigger flashlight to scare off unwelcome houseguests in a shivery remake, co-produced and co-written by Guillermo del Toro. Look for my interview with him and star Guy Pearce on the Cineaste website, posting soon.

Popdose: The Big Lebowski on Blu-ray

The Dude abides.

Popdose: Sucker Punch on Blu-ray

Where I discuss the tight-skirted, zeppelin-flying babes of Zack Snyder's folly, and eventually critique the disc.

Popdose: Sondheim sounds off

"You can drive a person crazy..." So with the gang I look into what's driving the composer crazy about the revisal of Porgy and Bess that's coming our way this season.

Cineaste: Bellflower

My review of a compelling, weird, lovable, nutso indie, opening Aug. 5.

The Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark microsite

Live Design magazine is spinning a web on the web, telling the tale of Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark from the design team's perspective via a specially created microsite brimming with my (ahem) "ace reportage." Take the plunge and have a look.

Popdose: Project Nim

No monkeying around, folks, regarding an eye-opening new documentary from Man on Wire's James Marsh.

Popdose: A Summer "Transformered"

Is a movie that's 90% awful still worth seeing? Yes, almost. Other, less awful movies are also considered.

"Animal Magnetism"

It'll be in the August issue of Live Design but you can read the first part of my article on the award-winning design of War Horse online.

Hell's multiplex: the UA Court Street Stadium 12

Remember that Brooklyn Heights-set horror movie The Sentinel (1977), where the doorway to hell was located in a genteel brownstone? Hell has been relocated a few blocks, to the dreaded UA Court Street Stadium 12 multiplex, hated by discerning moviegoers. I know enough to avoid it (and most multiplexes) on weekends, but yesterday's noon jaunt to see the (eh) Super 8 was a nightmare of slowpoke ticket-taking and molasses-paced concession sales that made me 15 minutes late for the movie. Irritated I wound up in an argument with the theater's manager, who couldn't care less about consumer complaints and just wanted to refund my money and get me out of there. And so after a few choice words I left, never to return.

The nicer Cobble Hill Cinemas was glad to have me, and as it happened it was discount day, so I paid $3 less than I would have at UA...Hell. UA's slightly more convenient location has obliged me to patronize it these past six years, despite terrible reviews, cretinous, nachos-stuffed audiences to match the staff in intelligence and girth, and two smoky fires started by malfunctioning popcorn machines, or malfunctioning employees. Want proof of the decline of customer service, basic worker competency, and pride in one's profession? Look no further.

Popdose: A Blu-ray Superman set

I have it on DVD, but the new Blu-ray incarnation of the five-year-old "Superman Anthology" leaps past it in a single bound. Or something.