Results tagged “juliaroberts”

Prestige filmmakers take note: If you want the Times critics to really love you, what you need to do is put the fear in them. At least it worked for Tim Burton; his adaptation of Steven Sondheim’s Sweeney Todd gave reviewer A.O. Scott nightmares. And for that, Scott deems the film “close to a masterpiece, a work of extreme – I am tempted to say evil – genius.” (Current Rotten Tomato rating: 88% fresh.) One big question was whether the non-singing actors cast in the film would be able to pull it off; according to Burton the film is almost 90 sung. Well, it worked for Scott:

Johnny Depp’s voice is harsh and thin, but amazingly forceful. He brings the unpolished urgency of rock ’n’ roll to an idiom accustomed to more refinement., and in doing so awakens the violence of Mr. Sondheim’s lyrics and melodies.

Filmmaker Ethan Coen has left his big brother behind and written three short plays all by himself. Called Almost an Evening, the triptych will be produced by the Atlantic Theater Company with a terrific cast that includes Elizabeth Marvel, who was riveting in Ivo van Hove’s unforgettable revival of Hedda Gabler, and Academy Award winner F. Murray Abraham. The plays “unsuccessfully tackle important questions. In Waiting, someone waits somewhere for quite some time. In Four...

• Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: falling debris on W 47th St. and 8th Ave. in Manhattan, a shooting on Broadway on Staten Island, and a suspicious boat at the Verrazano Bridge near Brooklyn.
• For a reason unrelated to terrorism, the U.S. Parks Dept. is going to keep the crown of the Statue of Liberty closed because it's a fire death-trap.
• Iranian President Mahmoud Amahdinejad's wish to visit Ground Zero was blocked due to security concerns.
• Leaping Labradors! Dogs competing for top dog dock jumping honors were jumping into a pool at Bryant Park.
• Money should start flowing quicker than spilled oil now that Julia Roberts stand-in Erin Brockovich has jumped into the Greenpoint oil spill pool.
• Despite objections from transit groups and the state comptroller, the MTA is prepared to propose a fare increase for commuters.
• Are New Yorkers in store for a second taxi strike?
• Filmmaker brothers Ethan and Joel Coen are attempting to pass off Brooklyn as the Georgetown neighborhood in Washington, DC. Mutual outrage will likely ensue.
• The vigil for recently deceased carriage horse Smoothie has been moved to the southeast corner of Central Park at the northeast section of Grand Army Plaza. It'll take place Thursday from 5:30-7:30 p.m.

New York mid-December always smells vaguely of pine and peppermint, despite our recent springtime temperatures. Bring that cozy holiday feeling with you into the cineplex for a couple of new feel-good holiday movies.

Unhappy over the Mayor's gun dealer stings last May, one Georgia gun dealer has decided to sue Mayor Mike for $400 million. Adventure Outdoors, a gun dealer in Smyrna, Georgia (best known as Julia Roberts' hometown), claims the mayor's sting was "careless, willful and clearly illegal." Former Georgia congressman Bob Barr filed the suit, which also claims that the Mayor "made defamatory comments about the store and that undercover investigators used false information to buy firearms." The AP says that during the press conference announcing the suit, supporters "cheered" and "danced", complete with flags. We're shocked people weren't dressed as the Constitution!

- And tomorrow is Mayor Bloomberg and Boston Mayor Menino's "National Summit on Illegal Guns" at Gracie Mansion; mayors from Dallas, Philadelphia, Seattle, Trenton, Jersey City and DC are among the attendees

Ooh, AM New York confirms what we suspected: The NY Times website was down for 4 hours last night. We were blaming it on our Verizon DSL as we tried to desperately read Ben Brantley's review of Julia Roberts in "Three Days of Rain" (aka, "Blame it on the Rain") but gave up after a while - and then the local news distracted us. No word on what happened to the site, but have you noticed the snazzy China Rises website from the NY Times? It's a TV series AND a website from a number of international news organizations.

Hmm, Gothamist is familiar with wacky antics from fellow moviegoers, but we haven't had to deal with a Broadway play audience that actually yells at the actors. The Daily News listed some recent examples of bad behavior, including one audience member dousing another with water and someone yelling to actor Larry Bryggman during a performance of Festen, saying that he couldn't hear Bryggman during a speech. Oy - we think we remember hearing that some actors (Laurence Fishburne?) would stop performances when he would hear cellphones ring - are we to expect people to put their feet up on the backs of seats next? This kind of strange behavior seems more endemic to people paying mad money for mainstream Broadway shows, while smaller off-Broadway shows seem less infected, perhaps because of the smaller venues and stronger camraderie.

It’s almost April, do you know where your Broadway mega-shows are? Cate Blanchett and Hedda Gabler got things off to a smash start, and the rest of the big guns are revving up: Tarzan, Lestat , Julia Roberts in Three Days of Rain, Ali MacGraw and Julianna Margulies in Festen…and more. We’ll spare you (and ourselves) the wallet strain and the eye-rolling – there are plenty of worthy littler shows crying out to be seen.

We noted in yesterday’s roundup of theatre in 2005 that at least in our optimistic eyes, last year had plenty of great shows. If anywhere like the same number of impressive plays and musicals appear in ‘06, it’d be hard to complain. But nonetheless, we do have a small wish list.

Earlier this week, the Daily News ran a story about people looking to lose their New York accents. Sam Chwat, who founded New York Speech Improvement Services - and has worked with Julia Roberts and Andie MacDowell, and is even working with the cast of Glengarry Glen Ross for their Chicago accents - says many of his clients are trying to rid themselves of the "streetwise image of fast-talking New Yorkers."

"If you spend your life in a particular community, like New York's Irish, Jewish or Chinese communities, then there's no reason to speak any differently. But if you cross the border into new communities, then you sound different. People listen to how you speak, and they make judgments from that."

In a city full of struggling artists, the last thing we need to hear is Julia Roberts doing an AOL voiceover that could have paid for our dinner. It just isn't fair when too much is never enough for some people. The ubiquitous celebrity author would be another example of this phenomena. Why, WHY?!

The BBC reports that Warburtons graciously asked 2,000 filmgoers what the cheesiest movie lines were, and their answers are this:

There are still Kim's Video locations in the East Village, West Village, and Columbia area. And the Avenue A location was the "surly" Kim's location, if you need to be laughed at and ridiculed and have your overall movie watching habits raised to a new level by video store employees, we suggest you go to Reel Life in Brooklyn, which some have dubbed The Championship Vinyl of video stores.

Is there a dress code for the matinee vs night for men. For example if we are going to museums all morning and then taking kids to a matinee, can men wear casual shorts and a polo shirt?

Crime Story is available on DVD; the guest stars on Crime Story include Julia Roberts, Gary Sinise, Vincent Gallo, Deborah Harry, Jann Wenner, David Hyde Pierce, and Dennis Haysbert. Farina also played Special Agent Jack Crawford in Manhhunter, the un-official (and much better than the Brett Ratner version) adapatation of Silence of the Lambs prequel, Red Dragon. Michael Mann produced Crime Story and directed Manhunter; it goes without saying that Farina appeared on Miami Vice.