Flags of Our Fathers Letters From Iwo Jima (directed by Clint Eastwood) To tell just one side of an armed conflict isn't telling the whole story, and Clint Eastwood's companion movies released last winter in time for Oscar season expertly uses that idea to illuminate the capture during World War II of the Japanese island Iwo Jima. Even more thrilling than the movies' exploding bombs or CGI parade of tanks is the deft and sensitive......

Herzog [Non] Fiction Film Forum Madman. Genius Auteur. Whether you think German director Werner Herzog falls into the camp of the former, the later or a mix of the two, the next three weeks at Film Forum will be a great chance to get better acquainted with this fascinating, prolific filmmaker's documentary works. Renowned for bringing his camera to inhospitable locales in search of the unfilmable and profiling the penultimate fringe characters, Herzog's most recent......

Most people recognize James Urbaniak as the intellectual indie-film icon from Henry Fool and American Splendor, while others probably think of him as the voice of Dr. Venture on Adult Swim’s The Venture Bros. and The Accountant from the (now defunct) series Kidnapped (not to mention the foot fetishist from Sex and the City). Theatergoers remember his critically acclaimed performance in 2005’s Off-Broadway hit Thom Pain (Based on Nothing). And bloggers around the world have......

If things have seemed quiet at the usual New York haunts of movie folks like Film Forum or Grey Dog Coffee this last week, it's because practically the whole community is in Park City, Utah for the Sundance Film Festival. The annual launching pad of many subsequently huge independent features (see this year's Best Picture Oscar nom and last year's festival break out, Little Miss Sunshine), Sundance is a crazy week. Parties, swag, deal-making and......

At the Sundance Film Festival, the film Waitress will premiere this afternoon. Written and directed by Adrienne Shelly. Last November, Shelly had been waiting to hear whether her film was going to be accepted by the Sundance Film Festival when she was found dead in a the Greenwich Village apartment building she had an office in. Initially, police suspected Shelly killed herself, since her body was found hanging from shower rod, but her family......

Blogs aren’t just for socially-awkward shut-ins anymore and we’ve got proof: many successful, outgoing theater types maintain weblogs. While they don't get as much glory (or contempt) as their influential music-blog counterparts, they do have their dignity. And there's sometimes drama! Here’s a small sampling of some theater blogs that keep us busy at work. If you like James Urbaniak the actor, you’ll want to know James Urbaniak the blogger. At Voucher Ankles, the man......

As part of their Playwrights & Performers series, the Drama Book Shop plays host to the happy couple behind Thom Pain (based on nothing), playwright Will Eno and actor James Urbaniak. Now extended through Labor Day, Thom Pain (based on nothing) has won over a host of critics and took top honors at 2004 Edinburgh Fringe Festival. With the extended run Gothamist hopes to catch a performance soon. But we have such a fondness for......

Sundance definitely hit its stride in the last day or so and now the exodus has begun. The scene is getting quiet. More film goers and less partyers are trolling around and those that have been here from the beginning are slowing down. The last couple of days have been pretty hectic for us. We took in a few more films, saw some great music and of course, there were the parties, more free hats......

A few weeks ago someone told Gothamist about this band called The Cloud Room. We went to their site, gave them a listen...and immediately asked them if they'd like to play at our show coming up in November. They couldn't do it this time around...but we still love them. They give the 80's pop resurgence we're hearing from so many bands right now a bit of a darker edge. A thickly lined beat and......

After a little digging, Gothamist found this photograph of Dennis Farina as Detective Joe Fontana in the upcoming season of Law & Order. Farina's bio is already up on NBC's L&O site, and it seems that Detective Fontana will be "hard-nosed" to Jesse L. Martin's "passionate and compulsive" Detective Ed Green. Farina/Fontana looks more put together than Jerry Orbach's lovable Detective Lennie Briscroe, but it does look like he wears his pants as high. We're......

Hal Hartley, Filmmaker...