Set over the course of one weekend in the posh restaurants, hotels and bars of Manhattan, The Girlfriend Experience explores the inner life of a young, high-price call girl as she tries to balance her fraught career path with her seemingly typical long-term relationship with a personal trainer. The action, so to speak, takes place in October 2008—with the financial industry in free-fall, Chelsea, the escort in question, spends less time between the sheets than she does listening to various affluent white guys completely freak out about the economy. more ›

to look forward to seeing. But this week? Nada. Don't believe that could possibly be the case? Check out what other early reviews of this week's releases are saying: more ›

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A Bourne, a Cloon and a pirate, oh my...with the Memorial Day holiday this weekend, we're entering the prime summer movie season and it's time to get psyched. Psyched! Here's just some Hollywood flicks we're awaiting between now and Labor Day. With all of these things to see, it's probably time to spring for the econo tub of popcorn and a bucket of soda to get through it all. more ›

(directed by Clint Eastwood) more ›

The sex trial that almost had director Steven Soderbergh as a juror heard testimony from one of the prosecution's star witnesses. The Manhattan DA's office says that former Montessori school principal Lina Sinha had affairs with two very underage male students. One of the victims, now a 24-year-old police officer, testified that Sinha kissed him when he was upset after losing an academic competition in 1995. He was 13 at the time, while Sinha was 29; the officer testified, "I was very sad, and Lina kissed me on the mouth" in her school office. more ›

It's really hard to joke about a sex trial where a female Manhattan Montessori school teacher is accused of the statutory rape and sodomy and two teenage boys, but based on the NY Times' article about juror selection, it seems there are moments of levity. more ›

You know it's the beginning of January when the gyms are filled with New Years resolution exercisers and the movie theaters are filled with post-New Years dreck. Frankly, it's best to focus on getting caught up on last year's best (see our Top 10 and the subsequent comments for suggestions) and leave this week's releases for suckers with movie money to burn. more ›

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. more ›

along with sexy sidekick Dirty Martini and accompanied on piano by Lance Cruce. Here, he tells us where to find New York's best cheeseburger, why he loves stage banter, his dream venue, and why freaky New Yorkers should stick around and reclaim downtown. more ›

, written by Greene and directed by William Carlos Menzies. Last week the Film Society of Lincoln Center web site indicated the program was sold out, but now it looks like tickets might be available. Worst case, there will be a stand-by line, and chances are some people will get in. (We've managed to do so via that line on more than one occasion.) This promises to be a great evening for film and book lovers everywhere. more ›

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The Film Society of Lincoln Center has put up the lineup for the New York Film Festival 2005 and it looks, as usual, to be a fun time. Opening the festival is George Clooney's second try at directing "Good Night, and Good Luck" about news reporting in the 50s and the McCarthy hearings ("Have you no sense of decency sir?"). The centerpiece movie is Neil "The Crying Game" Jordan's "Breakfast on Pluto" starring Cillian Murphy as a young man in 70s Ireland who was abandoned as a child (is it just us or is this Murphy guy suddenly everywhere?). Closing is "Caché (Hidden)" directed by Michael Haneke (who won best-director for Caché at Cannes this year). more ›

Gothamist loves movies (especially those by any "Anderson" director). That's why each Friday, we'll highlight the best and worst in both indie and blockbuster movies as well as the latest in trailers (because admit it, they're the best part of the movie-going experience). We will try our hardest to refrain from such overused phrases as "a non-stop laugh riot", "high octane fun" and "so funny I pished myself!" But no promises. more ›

Today's Gothamist Interview is with Michael Tully, who appears in one of the ads.
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Richard Lester, the fabulous director of a Hard Day's Night, was interviewed by Steven Soderbergh in the Guardian. He's the subject of Soderbergh's bizarre but interesting book about making film: Getting Away With It: Or: The Further Adventures of the Luckiest Bastard You Ever Saw. more ›

If it's March, it's the time for the networks to work on pilots for the upcoming season. These are some of today's announcements: more ›

The new novel Jennifer Government by Max Barry got a rave in the Times book review this past weekend, and I was affected: I just ordered it from Amazon. It also helps when the review is by someone I'm familiar with, in this case, Rob Walker who writes about marketing for Slate.com. A satire about an extreme marketing scheme in a world dominated by corporations, Nike will assasinate kids at shoe stores in order to make it seem like a new kind of Nikes are the hottest thing and thus drive sales. Enter Jennifer Government, a federal agent, to stop the madness. Of course, I'm not reading it just because there's a federal agent named Jennifer. I'm also reading it because the movie rights were bought by Steven Soderbergh and George Clooney's production company. I hope it will become a movie. I rather "Jennifer Government" be a recent movie with the name Jennifer in the title, rather than Jennifer 8.
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Let the games begin. The Directors' Guild has announced their nominees, and they are Stephen Daldry for "The Hours," Peter Jackson for "The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers," Rob Marshall for "Chicago," Martin Scorsese for "Gangs of New York," and Roman Polanski for "The Pianist." The most likely nominees for the Academy Awards' Best Picture of the bunch are "The Hours," "Chicago," and "Lord of the Rings." Photos above and an article(registration required) from Variety. "Gangs" and "The Pianist" are possibilities, but Scorsese and Polanski are polarizing figures. However, as these projects are labors of love for them, especially with Polanski's personal experience with the Holocaust and Hollywood's love of reliving the Holocaust in film (see "Schindler's List" and "Life is Beautiful"), they may be nominated for Best Picture. Good will for Rita Wilson and Tom Hanks may make "My Big Fat Greek Wedding" a Best Picture contender, but I personally am done with the big fat Greek hype. Back to the directors, the DGA awards are usually good indicators of who will win Best Director at the Oscars, but more recently, there's been discrepancy: Ang Lee winning the DGA award for "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon," while Steven Soderbergh won the Oscar for "Traffic"; Ron Howard winning the DGA for "Apollo 13", Mel Gibson the Oscar for "Braveheart". more ›