| INTERVIEWS |
|
 "Journeymen: Brendan Fraser/Eric Brevig"
"After several days of watching Brendan Fraser movies in preparation for this interview, perhaps I was unrealistically expecting something closer to his screen persona, but there was no mistaking that something was wrong." (July 13, 2008)
|
|
 "Satrapolis: Marjane Satrapi"
"Someone who says things impulsively that tend to get her in trouble, Ms. Satrapi's a kindred spirit." (April 13, 2008)
|
|
 "Eran's Visit: Eran Kolirin"
"As we ate, I realized that what preparatory notes I'd made were all but useless. I began to wonder if his reticence wasn't more reluctance than indifference: as an aside, almost, at one pointed he volunteered that 'Bush, yes, is quite fucked up.'" (February 10, 2008)
|
|
 "Tony Gilroy"
"His general appearance does a balancing act between "relaxed" and "unkempt" that typifies the kind of laid-back, distinguished-movie-star appeal he tried so hard to suppress in leading man George Clooney." (October 17, 2007)
|
|
 "Understanding the Words: Chris Tucker"
"A deeper probing into Tucker's career probably wouldn't prepare you for the first thing you notice about him in person: that he's not screaming at you." (August 12, 2007)
|
|
 "Regarding Henry: Henry Rollins"
"His secret weapon is charisma: if he were an MMRPG character, that attribute would be through the roof." (July 22, 2007)
|
|
 "Eye to Eye: Eli Roth"
"The location prompts a joke...and that breaks the ice to talk about Hostel Part II, his constant rotation of artistic inspirations, and the charges of hatred that are so often levelled against his films." (June 10, 2007)
|
|
 "W.W.: Wim Wenders"
"With a soft German accent and thick-rimmed glasses, Wenders twitched his leg manically as he spoke, using it as something like a conductor's baton, marking off the meter of his thoughts." (April 2, 2006)
|
|
 "Towne Country: Robert Towne"
"Perhaps Towne is afraid the jig is up and we'll soon discover that he--like Coppola, come to think of it--is a sentimentalist at heart who, for a while, rode the razored edge with rough company to a glory that's proven elusive to recapture." (March 19, 2006)
|
|
 "Into Her Own: Natasha Richardson"
"Ms. Richardson's screen work has matured along with her actualization. Yeah, I'm smitten." (February 12, 2006)
|
|
 "Mr. Frears Presents: Stephen Frears"
"I found [Frears] to be as elusive to pin down as his pictures are--the playful hooliganism many mark as his watermark only manifesting itself in person as a sly look now and again." (January 29, 2006)
|
|
 "Here Comes Mr. Jordan: Neil Jordan"
"I expected Neil Jordan to be towering, imposing. From the intelligence of his films, I wondered if I'd be able to keep up with his sources and references." (December 4, 2005)
|
|
 "Keen, Shaven: Lodge Kerrigan"
"I got off on the wrong foot with Lodge Kerrigan almost immediately--an unexpected turn of events because I'm a fan of his first three films: Clean, Shaven, Claire Dolan, and now Keane." (November 27, 2005)
|
|
 "Noah's Arc: Noah Baumbach"
"When people talk about The Squid and the Whale, they zero in on what they perceive to be the autobiographical elements of the picture, and they ask Baumbach to share how difficult it must have been to lay his soul so bare." (November 6, 2005)
|
|
 "Into the 'Blue': Ira Sachs"
"I had a chance to talk to Ira Sachs, co-writer and director of Forty Shades of Blue, about cracking the hard skin that's formed over the pudding of the indie dysfunctional-family genre." (October 30, 2005)
|
|
 "It's All in the Thumbs: Mike Mills & Lou Taylor Pucci"
"Not out to change the world, for a couple of hours, they were just in town waiting for a flight out of it." (October 8, 2005)
|
|
 "Beauty and the Phil: Amy Adams & Phil Morrison"
"Colorado girl--and freshly-minted Sundance sensation--Amy Adams was joined for a cup of coffee in the bowels of Denver's chichi Hotel Monaco by her Junebug director Phil Morrison." (August 7, 2005)
|
|
 "Hans. Solo.: Hans Petter Moland"
"Erudite in heavily-accented English, Mr. Moland is at a place now where he's still surprised that anyone's seen his other pictures. And for however long that lasts, that's just how I like it." (July 24, 2005)
|
|
 "The Modernist: Chris Terrio"
"Mr. Terrio is self-effacing, smart, and still-vital in the way of a young filmmaker not yet soured on his profession and his peers." (July 10, 2005)
|
|
 "Clarifying the Image: Sally Potter"
"Credit Sally Potter for having the guts to discuss what her work is actually about." (July 3, 2005)
|
|
 "Flavor of the Month: Greg Harrison"
"In town to pimp his sophomore feature November, Mr. Harrison seems like a smart guy with a good, healthy respect for the history of alternative cinema. Here's hoping his next project is up to his speed." (June 12, 2005)
|
|
 "Rarer Still: Joan Chen & Alice Wu"
"I felt admonished more than once by Ms. Chen as she talked about the creative arts as essentially selfish, and I felt challenged by the irrepressible Ms. Wu, who chose to take adversarial positions on a few occasions where there wasn't any kind of natural polarity." (June 5, 2005)
|
|
 "Tall Order: Eric Darnell & Tom McGrath"
"The two came off a little canned, with Darnell all business and McGrath a little dreamy; I tried to draw them out of their comfort zone in a way that Madagascar, alas, seldom did for me." (May 29, 2005)
|
|
 "Two Sides to Every Story: Todd Solondz"
"Articulate, thoughtful (over the telephone and in his work), Todd Solondz reminds me the most of Errol Morris in that his unmistakable eccentricity is matched by a desire unquenchable to find truth in unconventional places." (May 15, 2005)
|
|
 "Last of the Finest: Stephen Chow"
"Occasioned by the North American release of Kung Fu Hustle, we chatted in his suite at the Hotel Monaco. I learned that he and I have similar immigrant tales." (April 10, 2005)
|
|
 "The Thinking Man's Nimrod: Nimród Antal"
"Despite his pedigree, Mr. Antal is disarmingly self-effacing and polite, seemingly preoccupied with giving me the "right" or a "good" answer." (April 3, 2005)
|
|
 "A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to Toshi's Station: Mark Hamill"
"I did ask the questions I wanted to ask, and though I gave Mr. Hamill every opportunity to demur, he was forthcoming, impassioned, and articulate on subjects as varied as Samuel Fuller, John Carpenter, and, yep, George Lucas." (March 20, 2005)
|
|
 "Rich Man, Boorman: John Boorman"
"Upon the release of his latest film, In My Country, I had the opportunity to speak with Mr. Boorman. I resisted asking him to repeat my favourite Lee Marvin story that ends with Boorman being pulled over and the cop asking him if he knew that Lee Marvin was on top of his car." (March 13, 2005)
|
|
 "I Am Camera - The Documentarian Becomes the Documented, Part 5: Albert Maysles"
"Following brother David's death in 1987, Albert continues to produce documentaries (Lalee's Kin, Abortion: Desperate Choices) that, for all of their apparent starkness, reveal a heart of compassion expansive and genuine. " (February 13, 2005)
|
 "The Hero's Ambassador: Dan Harris"
"We shook hands and I took note of how furtive he looked-- particularly for the wunderkind who has found himself as the screenwriter of not only X2, but also the upcoming reimaginings of Logan's Run and Superman." (February 6, 2005) |
 "His First Shot: Niels Mueller"
"Mr. Mueller, sounding an awful lot like Alexander Payne over the telephone, spoke at length on the subject of The Assassination of Richard Nixon." (January 23, 2005) |
 "Paradise Found - The Documentarian Becomes the Documented, Part 4: Steve James"
"It was an honour to finally make Mr. James' acquaintance via telephone after months of playing e-mail tag with him. Generous with his time and resources and wickedly self-deprecating, he lives up to his everyman billing." (January 16, 2005) |
 "Chairman of the Bard: Michael Radford"
"Something like a whirlwind in person, Radford cuts through the pre-lunch crowd, hand extended unaffectedly enough to shed a little light on how unspoken he's been about his film (The Merchant of Venice), U.S. foreign policy, and actors." (January 9, 2005) |
 "A Taste of Freeman: Morgan Freeman"
"He was there sans agenda, a rare place to find an interview subject and an invitation--a daunting one--to go over some ground that has already been trampled flat." (December 19, 2004) |
 "Prolific: Kevin Bacon"
"Spectral in frame and bearing, Mr. Bacon is in town to receive the John Cassavetes Award--an honour that would seem questionable but for the actor's recent output: unfailingly maverick, skirting with dangerous." (December 5, 2004) |
 "The Trojan Horseman: Mark Brian Smith"
"Overnight co-director Smith seems like an affable, reasonable guy, which begs the question of how, exactly, he got caught up in the dank updraft of a psychopathic loser like Troy Duffy." (November 21, 2004) |
 "Once Upon a Time: Marc Forster"
"Outward apperances suggest that Forster isn't tough enough to survive in the Hollywood shark pool, but with two high-profile films in the works, there must be reserves of strength that aren't obvious to the casual observer." (November 14, 2004) |
 "Work de Soleil: Soleil Moon Frye"
"As we sit down to talk about her documentary, Sonny Boy, Soleil Moon Frye is a bundle of energy whose emotions are ever close to the surface." (November 7, 2004) |
 DIFF COVERAGE "The Go-to Guy: Bill Pullman"
"Wearing a baseball cap and red jacket, Bill Pullman seems like any other sturdy middle-aged guy. He does, that is, until he talks." (October 24, 2004) - Our 100th Interview! |
 DIFF COVERAGE "Bride of the Woodsman: Kyra Sedgwick"
"Taller than you'd think and luminescent on a drizzly autumn day in Denver, Kyra Sedgwick has a smile that lights up a room, even this cavernous warehouse space." (October 17, 2004) |
 "'Sky''s Not the Limit: Kerry Conran"
"The mastermind behind Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow would seem to be at home in this art deco oasis in the middle a liminal mountain metropolis." (October 3, 2004) |
 "When There's No More Room in Britain...: Simon Pegg, Edgar Wright & Nick Frost"
"There was something pleasantly right about an old, unknown FIXX song playing while I was chatting with these blokes--who had made a half-assed record collection in Shaun of the Dead into an arsenal to irritate the legions of the shambling undead." (September 26, 2004) |
 "Shalhoubian Chants: Tony Shalhoub"
"But what interests me most about Mr. Shalhoub isn't his theatre presence, his television presence, or his movie presence, per se: it's his decisions to champion projects both risky and unusual." (September 5, 2004) |
 "The Expressionist: E. Elias Merhige"
"I'd heard that he is exceedingly bright but prefers to stay doggedly on-topic; I found him to be bright, for certain, but we travelled off the script in our conversation." (August 29, 2004) |
 "Gallo's Humor: Vincent Gallo"
"After a little soul-searching, I agreed to do it. I'd never met Vincent Gallo before, but his reputation for combativeness bordering on cruelty preceded him; I confess that I've never been more nervous to interview someone." (August 22, 2004) |
 "Burden of Dreams: Tadanobu Asano"
"We covered a few bases: his band, his admiration for all things Sex Pistols, and his recent dabbling behind the camera. He's a superstar in the making, and I was giddy as a schoolgirl." (August 8, 2004) |
 "Wave 2: Stacy Peralta & Greg Noll"
"The crowd is raucous, Noll is nervous, and Peralta? He's cool as the other side of the pillow in trademark ballcap, sporting a sincere look upon shaking my hand and remembering the conversation that we had almost three years ago now." (August 1, 2004) |
 "Hail Maria: Joshua Marston & Catalina Sandino Moreno"
"Such was my introduction to indie flavour-of-the-second Joshua Marston, writer-director of Maria Full of Grace: a full head of curly hair, and an ego the size of a brick shithouse." (July 25, 2004) |
 "The Artful Dodgeballer: Rawson Marshall Thurber"
"Sounding a little tired, a little worried about how his debut will do ("I've got a few applications out to Starbucks, just in case"), Mr. Thurber proved himself to be as articulate and well-spoken as his film implies." (June 20, 2004) |
 "Legacy: Mario & Melvin Van Peebles"
"Both decked out in Baadasssss! skull caps and both sporting the steely-eyed glare of doing things the hard way, they were ready and willing to talk about the state of our cinematic state." (June 6, 2004) |
 "Waters Still Run Deep?: Mark S. Waters"
"Call it hopelessly Pollyannaish, but it had literally never occurred to me that people who make debuts as cunning as The House of Yes would consciously move on to safe and popular films." (May 2, 2004) |
 "Life on the Barge: Tilda Swinton & David Mackenzie"
"Ms. Swinton is dressed in a loose brown shirt that she'll pull over her legs, knees folded against her chest--a charming, almost alarmingly childlike pose from an actress I most readily associate with ferocious, audacious turns in Derek Jarman's free-verse celluloid poetry and best-of-bad-movie appearances." (April 25, 2004) |
 Hot Docs "Wild at Heart: Nettie Wild"
"In one breath, she'll tell you she has no political agenda but is simply looking for a story to tell and finding it in political struggles in Canada and elsewhere. But ask her to tell her story and you'll find a less detached woman, one who is well aware of the "social contract" she has with her subjects and fiercely committed to a definite point of view." (April 25, 2004) |
 "Bergman - Unfiltered: Nir Bergman"
"Mr. Bergman himself is slight of stature and emotionally intimate, leaning forward with our handshake and fixing me with a gaze half-vulnerable and half-steely." (April 18, 2004) |
iViews "Jennifer Baichwal"
"With just two feature-length documentaries under her belt, Let It Come Down: The Life of Paul Bowles and The True Meaning of Pictures: Shelby Lee Adams' Appalachia, Toronto-based filmmaker Jennifer Baichwal has already established herself as among the most thoughtful, inquisitive artists in a genre finally hitting its stride." (April 12, 2004) |
 "Mostly Martha: Martha Coolidge"
"Her latest film The Prince & Me--what seems like an attempt to recapture the cross-cultural love affair formula of Valley Girl and Real Genius--works inasmuch as it does because of Coolidge's deft touch with that sort of material, no matter how well-traveled." (April 4, 2004) |
 "Director of the Dead: Zack Snyder"
"Dawn of the Dead compelled me to request a phone interview with its director, Zack Snyder. I should amend that I was driven not by pressing questions, but by that flicker of fanboyism I'd thought long-extinguished." (March 28, 2004) |
 "In Fighting Shape: Omar Epps"
"In truth, I was more interested in his work with personal hero "Beat" Takeshi Kitano in Kitano's English-language debut Brother, and how an actor still somewhat on the margins of stardom has managed to assemble such a diverse filmography." (February 22, 2004) |
 "The Documentarian Becomes the Documented, Part Two: Errol Morris"
"Speaking to Errol Morris the other day, I was stricken by the care that he took in answering questions and daunted by the idea that I had undertaken the task of interviewing one of the best interviewers of our time, not to mention a brilliant artist and, judging by his barbed response to Eric Alterman's review in THE NATION, a closet academic." (February 8, 2004) |
 "The Ginger-Bred Woman: Emily Perkins"
"As I marvelled at the distinction between Perkins the person and Brigitte the character, I managed to ask her a few questions--about the Ginger Snaps saga, about acting in Canada, and about her craft." (February 1, 2004) |
 "The Fighting Fitzgerald: Thom Fitzgerald"
"Canadian filmmaker Thom Fitzgerald gets credit for not trying too hard to be likeable, cultivating an air of smug, bemused superiority that strikes me as genuine mainly because his films exude the same aroma." (January 25, 2004) |
 "The Drama King: Campbell Scott"
"In person, Scott is engaging and almost shockingly charismatic, doing a round of handshaking with myself and a somewhat flabbergasted camera crew." (January 11, 2004) |
 "28 Movies Later...: Brendan Gleeson"
"For Gleeson to be routinely overlooked come awards season says a great deal about awards season and the extent to which showy performances--performances that the layperson swiftly identifies as performances--overshadow the sort of bedrock naturalism and presence of a character actor like Gleeson." (December 28, 2003) |
 "Real Perelman: Vadim Perelman"
"We spoke candidly about my concerns with House of Sand and Fog and both of our hopes for his next project, DreamWorks' long-in-coming adaptation of Stephen King and Peter Straub's The Talisman." (December 21, 2003) |
 "And the Geeks Shall Inherit the Earth: Paul Feig"
"The co-creator of "Freaks and Geeks" and author of the heartbreaking/hilarious Kick Me: Adventures in Adolescence, Feig is one of our most vital chroniclers of the heartache of youth and the angst of being intelligent in an anti-intellectual world." (December 14, 2003) |
 "Macy's Day: William H. Macy"
"Macy, in a light mood, tells a story about an actor friend who got lost in the tunnels backstage en route to his entrance in a play, erupting triumphantly at last stage left, but alas in the wrong production. "But how was the performance?" I asked. "Compromised," Macy deadpanned." (November 23, 2003) |
 "The Piece Maker: Peter Hedges"
"I broached the topic of race in his film, the element of Pieces of April that causes me the most pause, knowing as I did so that Mr. Hedges was probably mistaking our affinity for one another for affection for his film." (November 9, 2003) |
 "Miller's Crossing: Wentworth Miller"
"Tall, handsome, calm, and extremely courteous, Wentworth Miller is receiving what could potentially be his big break with The Human Stain, stealing the show from Anthony Hopkins, Nicole Kidman, and Gary Sinise playing a role that's surprisingly close to home." (November 2, 2003) |
 DIFF COVERAGE "Tough Enough: Wes Studi"
"'You look like a Sioux,' he told me, breaking into laughter that felt more warm than mocking, probably deciding in that moment to forgive me for butchering the handful of Cherokee phrases I'd learned to greet him." (October 26, 2003) |
 DIFF COVERAGE "Wrath of Caan: Scott Caan"
"Scott Caan wears a tight baseball t-shirt and demonstrates yo-yo tricks to the slight consternation of a publicist eyeing the glass enclosure, I thought, a little nervously." (October 19, 2003) |
 DIFF COVERAGE "Bobby Darin': Bobby Cannavale"
"I didn't say much regarding his breakout performance in Thomas McCarthy's breakout film The Station Agent." (October 12, 2003) |
"The Brood Makes Good: Aaron Woodley"
"The nephew of David Cronenberg and a veteran of almost two-dozen animated shorts, Woodley is soft-spoken and intelligent (like his uncle), and, like his uncle again, gifted and dangerous." (October 5, 2003) |
 "Andrei the Giant: Andrei Codrescu"
"In person, Mr. Codrescu is compact and vaguely infernal in appearance, his gaze intense from behind small wire-frame glasses, and his voice deep with the command of a practiced public speaker." (September 21, 2003) |
 TIFF COVERAGE "Virginie Speaks (Sorta): Virginie Ledoyen"
"Less childlike than the person you see on screen, the former model (who remains a spokeswoman for L'Oreal) sits down, stands up, and smiles for the lens with knee-jerk poise. But there lay in her gestures the tiniest shred of self-consciousness..." (September 15, 2003) |
 "Cabin Boy: Eli Roth"
"On the telephone from Los Angeles, Roth laces his conversation with profanity and references to horror films and directors." (September 14, 2003) |
 TIFF COVERAGE "There's Only One Sharif In This Town: Omar Sharif"
"Omar Sharif's regal stride into our appointed meeting place, a third-floor room within Toronto's Hotel Intercontinental, felt almost as dramatic to me, for his every step is weighted with a half-century of fame." (September 7, 2003) |
 "Like Looking Into a Mirror: Mark and Michael Polish"
"I met Mark and Michael Polish in the Green Room of Denver's NBC affiliate just after the pair had appeared live on local television to banter with the indigenous fauna about their latest film, Northfork." (August 31, 2003) |
 "'Thirteen' Days: Catherine Hardwicke"
"Hardwicke had no problems in filling in the fine details of her adventures with the film, actor/co-screenwriter/surrogate daughter Nikki Reed, and as a production designer on the sets of some prominent directors." (August 24, 2003) |
 "He Who Courts Controversy: Peter Mullan"
"An indisputable sign of my provincialism, ten minutes into my conversation with Scottish actor-filmmaker Peter Mullan and I was still thinking to myself how awesome his rolling brogue is--I've never been more tempted to ape Irvine Welsh." (August 10, 2003) |
 "Cliff Notes: Cliff Curtis"
"Curtis is an extremely warm, curious sort of fellow at once unfazed by his rising status in Hollywood (having appeared in numerous high-profile pictures playing a variety of ethnicities) and possessed of that particular airy disconnection of folks reared in the theatre." (July 27, 2003) |
 "Witchy Woman: Heather Donahue"
"Since her career-making role in The Blair Witch Project, Ms. Donahue has been subjected to the same virulent backlash as the film, making her persona non grata in Hollywood even though her minimal work since then has been far and away the best parts of marginal films--and indicative, besides, of genuine talent." (July 13, 2003) |
"The Documentarian Becomes the Documented: Andrew Jarecki"
"Being caught in a whirlwind is also what's happened to director Andrew Jarecki, who sold his company Moviefone to AOL in 1999 for in excess of $350M and somehow wound up writing the theme song for TV's "Felicity" before finding himself at the helm of Capturing the Friedmans, a documentary feature...poised to be the most talked-about of the year." (June 29, 2003) |
 "McGehee & Siegel Resurface"
"...There I met dark complected Scott McGehee and silver-haired David Siegel--co-hyphenates behind icy technical pictures Suture and The Deep End--in a 20' x 30', glass-walled room sporting three over-stuffed love seats and little padded ottomans..." (June 22, 2003) |
 "Don't Say No Before You've Seen the Bloke: Bruce Beresford"
"A large man in a rumpled suit with a large clutch of papers and a VHS screener tucked underneath one arm, Bruce Beresford, the Australian director of some of the best films of the past thirty years (and some of the worst films of the last ten), is the model of expansive, self-deprecating charm." (June 15, 2003) |
 "This Is Alexander, He Makes Movies: Alexander Payne"
"Payne is smart enough to engage in a different kind of conversation--I took his "I don't have anything interesting to say" as a challenge." (June 8, 2003) |
 "Viva Valeria!: Valeria Golino"
"Having overcome a crippling scoliosis that resulted in surgery at a young age, there is a sadness to Ms. Golino, as well as a self-effacing forthrightness--an unapologetic directness--that charms. Midway through our conversation, Ms. Golino startled me by turning the tables." (May 25, 2003) |
 "The Ampersand Man: Nick Broomfield"
"Say what you will about Nick Broomfield: that he's shallow, that he's an ambulance-chaser, that he is, as one reviewer put it, "the unobservant voyeur." But whatever else they are, his films are compulsive viewing." (May 11, 2003) |
 "Love, Death & Gambling: Richard Kwietniowski"
"His two feature films, Love and Death on Long Island and Owning Mahowny, his latest, tackle issues of love and obsession with a deft visual sense and a surprisingly gentle touch." (May 4, 2003) |
 "Mr. Intense: James Foley"
"Wired, Foley spent most of our interview clenching and unclenching his jaw, something that causes his speech to be clipped and measured. At one point, he jumped up to demonstrate how he devised a tracking shot for Glengarry Glen Ross." (April 25, 2003) |
 "The Straight Shooter: George Hickenlooper"
"There at the beginnings of Billy Bob Thornton and Naomi Watts, after the success of 2002's The Man from Elysian Fields, it may finally be director George Hickenlooper's turn in the spotlight." (April 20, 2003) |
 "The XX/XY Interview: Austin Chick & Petra Wright"
"The picture is a promising work that demonstrates a good deal of potential for not only writer-director Chick, but also his young cast, including actress Petra Wright." (April 13, 2003) |
 "The Filmmaker with Four Syllables in Her Last Name: Lisa Cholodenko"
"Ms. Cholodenko speaks succinctly and carefully--she can seem a little defensive at times, the source of her discomfort possibly having something to do with the speed with which her work has been politicized along sexual (lesbian) lines." (March 23, 2003) |
 "David Cronenberg Re-examines David Cronenberg"
FILM FREAK CENTRAL takes a look at David Cronenberg's body of work--with a little help from the master himself. (March 9, 2003) |
 "Love Notes: Philip Seymour Hoffman & Todd Louiso"
The star and actor-turned-director of Love Liza discuss their respective careers. (March 2, 2003) |
 "More Mulatto Than Chocolate: David Gordon Green & Paul Schneider"
"Green: 'I wrote the script for All the Real Girls before George Washington, while Paul and I were still in college. I wanted to make a movie that captured the genuine feeling of being young and in love.' Schneider: 'We both got dumped by girls that we were madly in love with.'" (February 16, 2003) |
 "Focus Puller: Paul Schrader"
"A pivotal member of the small group of film-school 'brats' to single-handedly manufacture in 1970s America what is arguably the most important and vital decade in the history of the medium, Paul Schrader's latest film is Auto Focus." (December 17, 2002) |
"A Picture of Sam Jones Goes Here"
"Sam Jones makes his directorial debut with the raw, fantastic music documentary I Am Trying to Break Your Heart, which follows alt-country band Wilco as they complete their album 'Yankee Hotel Foxtrot.'" (December 1, 2002) |
 "From Flies to Spiders: David Cronenberg"
"Having once said after Dead Ringers that he had no interest in exploring Freud, I asked Mr. Cronenberg, among other things, why he decided now to adapt Patrick McGrath's Oedipal opus Spider and how this film is the culmination of his career's throughlines." (November 15, 2002) |
 "Ray Liotta is One Cool Bastard"
"Unfailingly polite, Liotta impresses most with his candour and forthrightness--a breath of fresh air in a business that too often resembles a mutual admiration society of professional spin-doctors and overripe hucksters." (November 4, 2002) |
 DIFF COVERAGE "Queen of Swords: Cheng Pei-pei"
"I confided in the amazingly beautiful Hong Kong action legend Cheng Pei-pei that a screening of her classic Shaw Brothers film Come Drink with Me on a grainy bootleg copy as a small child gifted me with both a lifelong love of martial arts films and my first crush." (October 26, 2002) |
 DIFF COVERAGE "Burger in a Restaurant: Neil Burger"
"Tall, thin, dapper, Mr. Burger lives just six blocks from the World Trade Center site; over the course of our lunch, he recalled how large pieces of debris fell just feet from his home--and how an atrocity of that magnitude puts everything else into sharp perspective." (October 26, 2002) |
 DIFF COVERAGE "Finding the Giant Within: A.J. Schnack"
"I shared a large sofa with the nebbishy Mr. Schnack and asked what moved him to make a feature-length documentary on his favourite band." (October 25, 2002) |
 DIFF COVERAGE "Noyce Guys Finish First: Phillip Noyce"
"2002 is a banner year for director Phillip Noyce who, after years toiling in the Hollywood dream factory, has returned home to his native Australia to helm a pair of spectacular and disparate films: The Quiet American and Rabbit-Proof Fence." (October 24, 2002) |
 DIFF COVERAGE "The Lost Boys: Louis Pepe & Keith Fulton"
"Keith Fulton and Louis Pepe--the team behind the Terry Gilliam documentaries The Hamster Factor and Other Tales of Twelve Monkeys and this year's excellent Lost in La Mancha--define a collaboration of complementary parts." (October 22, 2002) |
 DIFF COVERAGE "You Might Even Say They Glow...: Michael Henry Wilson & Alan Rudolph"
"I don't know exactly what I was expecting from Alan Rudolph, the director of such peculiar films as Love at Large, Trouble in Mind, and the frankly misguided adaptation of Vonnegut's Breakfast of Champions, but a smallish, balding, unassuming man with a flat west-coast accent wasn't it." (October 21, 2002) |
 DIFF COVERAGE "A Get-Together with Chen Kaige"
"Stentorian in appearance and a little dreamy in mien, Chen Kaige ("Tzen KI-guh") is one of the primary members of China's Fifth Generation of filmmakers." (October 19, 2002) |
 DIFF COVERAGE "The Fast and Furious Cole Hauser"
"A rising star, Hauser is along with Alison Lohman the best thing about the intensely mediocre White Oleander--he's the best thing, in fact, about a lot of films." (October 15, 2002) |
 "Skins Game: Chris Eyre"
"...After a nice bowl of hominy and beef stew served by what appeared to be three generations of one family in the centre's commissary, Eyre was ready to talk with me about the perception of American Indians in the United States and more." (October 2, 2002) |
 "Film Freak Central Interviews Director Christian Frei"
"While flipping through a magazine on a flight to Chicago in April 1997, Swiss director Christian Frei became acquainted with the work of photojournalist James Nachtwey, one of the most decorated artists in his field and the subject of Frei's remarkable documentary War Photographer." (September 30, 2002) |
"'Last' Action Hero: Steven Silver"
"Finding the right balance between history and irony, outrage and careful consideration, is a devilishly tricky thing, and Mr. Silver carries it off with a surplus of apparent ease." (September 29, 2002) |
 "In Conversation with Arthur Dong"
"A veteran and much-lauded documentary filmmaker based in the Los Angeles area, Arthur Dong's latest film Family Fundamentals examines the toll that hatred and intolerance have taken on either side of the ideological divide separating fundamentally Christian families from their homosexual children." (September 27, 2002) |
 "Cory McAbee in Black and White"
"McAbee is an emerging talent, equal parts early Steve Martin and early David Byrne, with an artistic sensibility best described as an intoxicating cocktail of scary, witty, and sublime." (September 18, 2002) |
 TIFF COVERAGE "Bruce and Don Caught in the Act of Filmmaking": Don Coscarelli & Bruce Campbell
"Bruce Campbell arrived almost punctually with Don Coscarelli--auteur of the Toronto International Film Festival entry in which Campbell stars, Bubba Ho-Tep--in tow." (September 15, 2002) |
 TIFF COVERAGE "Circus Vargas": Peter Sollett
"As I was packing up to leave his hotel room, Sollett thanked me for not asking, to put it in no uncertain terms, What the hell's an upper-middle-class white guy doing make a movie about a Latino neighbourhood on the lower east side of Manhattan?" (September 10, 2002) |
 "Butler Did It": George Butler
"Butler's subsequent projects have been examinations of the urge for achievement in ages of relative leisure." (August 25, 2002) |
 "Your Secret Is Safe With Payami": Babak Payami
"I was greeted by a compact, powerful-seeming man in a sweater. Articulate and confident, yes, but there the similarity to papa Sam ended." (August 25, 2002) |
 "World Traveler": John Sayles & Maggie Renzi
"John Sayles, dressed in a pale blue unbuttoned workshirt, sleeves pushed up, at a muscular 6'4"--the most important voice in American Independent cinema--looked ready for a hard day's work and, in its way, [an interview] is probably as gruelling as digging fence posts." (July 7, 2002) |
 "The Game of 'Wife'": Yvan Attal & Charlotte Gainsbourg
"A moment where Ms. Gainsbourg plucks a bit of the white ash falling from Colorado's apocalyptic skies from Mr. Attal's tousled hair demonstrates a level of simple affection and tenderness between this unlikely pair that's missing from all of My Wife is an Actress." (June 26, 2002) |
 "'Fast' Times": Zacharias Kunuk & Norman Cohn
"Zacharias Kunuk and Norman Cohn's Atanarjuat (more commonly, The Fast Runner) shot entirely on DV before being transferred to 35mm (much like Episode II), is the kind of unique independent project that gives hope and reason to the format." (June 25, 2002) |
 "On the Phone with Jena Malone"
"Perhaps, like me, you're a big fan of Donnie Darko, to which Jena Malone brings the balance of calm--she is the film's earthy centre." (June 12, 2002) |
 "Marlo's 'America'": Marlo Poras
"With 170 hours of footage whittled down to a lean and fantastic ninety minutes, Mai's America demonstrates Marlo Poras' skill as an editor in finding the moments that matter and punctuating them with a sparkling wit." (June 2, 2002) |
 "'Dragon' Tales": Timothy Bui
"When I met Mr. Bui, it was in the funky fusion lobby of Denver's Hotel Monaco; he was dressed casually in white shirt and pants, running a little late, with the kind of demeanour that I recognized from my own status as minority in the United States: friendly, but wary." (May 31, 2002) |
 "One Conversation with Jill Sprecher"
"Small, cheerful, and self-effacing, 13 Conversations About One Thing director Jill Sprecher is a girl of the midwest through and through." (May 22, 2002) |
 "'Sum' Kind of Wonderful": Phil Alden Robinson
"Phil Alden Robinson has endeavoured in each of his films as director to recreate [a] feeling of conviviality and bonhomie with his extended ensembles." (May 17, 2002)
|
 "McKay While the Sun Shines": John McKay
"With a background in BBC television as well as two well-regarded short features under his belt (Doom and Gloom (1996) and Wet and Dry (1997)), John McKay's uneven and somewhat inauspicious feature-length debut Crush has garnered a slew of bad reviews." (April 19, 2002)
|
 "Angels in the Multiplex": Peter O'Fallon and John-Paul Macleod & Louise Clark Goddard
"FILM FREAK CENTRAL sat down a few weeks before the Catholic Church's latest "outing" with Peter O'Fallon, director of A Rumor of Angels, and John-Paul Macleod and Louise Clark Goddard, star and producer, respectively, of The Testimony of Taliesin Jones." (April 19, 2002) |
 "Heavy Hitters of the New Argentine Cinema": Juan José Campanella and Fabián Bielinsky
"Juan José Campanella, writer-director of the Best Picture in a Foreign Language Oscar-nominated El Hijo de la Novia (Son of the Bride), and Fabián Bielinsky, writer-director of the seven-time Condor-winning (Argentina's equivalent of the Oscar) Nueve reinas (Nine Queens) spoke with us about their films, Zorro, the pleasure of narrative, and the state of their country's film industry." (April 15, 2002) |
 "West Is Best": Shane West
"It's an undercurrent of the slightly wicked (with his horror jones and his punk band Average Jo) that fuels his persona across various heartthrob fansites dedicating themselves to celebrating the young, the pretty, the slightly dangerous." (January 11, 2002) |
 "Speak of 'The Devil's Backbone'": Guillermo Del Toro
"Guillermo Del Toro's films resonate with the weight of archetype: they find their thorniness down among the insects, the religious martyrs, the sexually infertile (including the aged and the very young), and the Stygian underside of the fairytale." (January 6, 2002) |
 "'Dark' Victory": Jan Sverák
"FILM FREAK CENTRAL was lucky enough to sit down with Jan Sverák to talk about heroism and the artist, family, learning to fly, and how film can change the world." (November 18, 2001) |
 "'Tunnel' Vision": Jacob and Josh Kornbluth
"As it turns out, Josh, such a charming nebbish as the star of his own film, appeared as nervous as I." (October 24, 2001) |
 "The Business of Stettner": Patrick Stettner
"Quick with a smile and a self-deprecating laugh, Patrick Stettner is not the dour cynic his films lead one to expect." (October 17, 2001) |
 "Z-Boys Are Back in Town": Stacy Peralta
"Eloquent and passionate about his work, generous with his thoughts and fears, Stacy Peralta seems to be free of the burden of self-importance." (October 14, 2001) |
 "The Great 'L.I.E.'": Stephen Ryder
"Mr. Ryder's new film L.I.E. bristles with a brittle reality." (September 22, 2001) |
 "A Conversation with Walter Murch"
"We discussed everything under the Hollywood sun, including his ill-fated directorial debut, Return
to Oz." (May 9, 2000) |
|
| ARTICLES/OPINION PIECES |
Film Freak Central does the Denver Art Museum's "The Art of Silent Film" series
Capsule reviews of The Crowd, The Navigator, Foolish Wives, Diary of a Lost Girl, The Last Laugh, Strike, and Modern Times. (April 19, 2005) |
"If We Picked Eight Winners": The 2005 Oscar Race
Between copious pissing and moaning, Walter Chaw and Bill Chambers predict this year's Academy Awards winners in the top eight categories. (February 20, 2005) |
"Welch's DVD Juice"
Walter Chaw, Travis Hoover, and Bill Chambers on various Raquel Welch DVD offerings. (June 21, 2004) |
"Junket Blues"
Walter Chaw in L.A. for the Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind junket. (March 14, 2004) |
"If We Picked Eight Winners": The 2004 Oscar Race
Walter Chaw and Bill Chambers predict this year's Academy Awards winners in the top eight categories. (February 29, 2004) |
"If We Picked Eight Winners": The 2003 Oscar Race
Walter Chaw analyzes the year's Academy Awards nominees in eight major categories. (March 16, 2003) |
The Films of David Cronenberg
Walter Chaw looks at films by David Cronenberg--with interview comments from the director himself. (March 9, 2003) |
Film Freak Central's 2002 DVD Gift Guide
Holiday shopping ideas, extensive reviews. (November 14, 2002) |
The Films of Hayao Miyazaki
Walter Chaw looks at every film that Hayao Miyazaki has directed. (October 9, 2002) |
Three DVDs That Commemorate 9/11
Walter Chaw on New York Firefighters: The Brotherhood of 9/11; Operation Enduring Freedom: America Fights Back; and World Trade Center: Anatomy of the Collapse (September 17, 2002) |
Film Freak Central does the 2002 VSDA Entertainment Expo
"The VSDA convention, held annually in Las Vegas, is of diminishing importance, with many of the major studios now ignoring either the exhibitor's floor or the four-day event altogether. Organizers kept to themselves about this but attendees didn't (it was the topic of finger-food small talk), and in a perversely democratic move most everywhere you went within the convention grounds of the Rio Suites Hotel & Casino you could pick up a complimentary copy of The Hollywood Reporter that bore the headline: "Studios keep their distance from VSDA confab."" (July 25, 2002) |
The Films of John Sayles
Walter Chaw looks at every film that John Sayles has directed. (July 6, 2002) |
Six Oscar® Predictions; A Little Ranting
"The last time a Ron Howard movie was heavily nominated for Academy Awards (1995, Apollo 13), it was joined in the Best Picture category by the some of the least enduring films you can imagine: Babe, Braveheart, Il Postino, and Sense & Sensibility. Adhering to tradition or starting one, the most recent Howard opus (Opie?) to earn nods in several major categories, A Beautiful Mind, leads the lamest pack of Best Picture nominees since 1995." (March 19, 2002) |
The Second Annual "If We Picked Six Winners"
"Without further ado, what Stephen and I are respectively rooting for to win six major Oscars (the categories Joe Public cares about) come March 25, 2001. These are not predictions, they are selections in the spirit of Siskel & Ebert's 'If We Picked The Winners'." (March 23, 2001) |
The First Wave of Fox DD/DTS DVDs
"I suppose that the entries in Fox's initial wave of dual-DD/DTS titles were selected for their aural oomph, but they do in fact share a theme, war, which seems too implausible as coincidence. The line-up includes: Courage Under Fire, The Last of the Mohicans, Predator, The Siege, The Thin Red Line, and The X-Files. To that end, The X-Files has much in common with Predator. I think the studio's decision comes down to the notion that modern war pictures are armed with big audio dynamite." (January 4, 2001) |
This Man's Vegas: Coverage of 2000's VSDA Convention
What's the scoop on the American Beauty DVD? What does Fox have up its sleeve? And why are there so many damn pornstars? A trip to Sin City that rocks and rolls. (July 17, 2002) |
If We Picked Six Winners
"Without further ado, what Stephen and I are respectively rooting for to win six major Oscars (the categories Joe Public cares about) come March 26, 2000. These are not predictions, they are selections in the spirit of Siskel & Ebert's 'If We Picked The Winners'." (March 23, 2000) |
10 Summer Movies That I Can't Wait To See
"Rabid Star Wars fans in Hollywood have set up tents outside
Mann's Chinese Theater in anticipation of The Phantom Menace's arrival.
But the movie I'm waiting for with bated breath is Fight Club, director
David Fincher's quasi-sequel to Se7en." (April 27, 1999) |
3D IMAX and the "Coloss"al Waste of Money
"When [the 3-D IMAX 'T. Rex' movie started], boy oh boy, I thought I had accidentally walked into a John Tesh concert. Laser beams darted all around the spherical theatre while public domain (?) inspirational music blared. Most people had their glasses on by this point, which was unnecessary, as lasers, by nature, are three dimensional." (February 22, 1999) |
Of Mice and Batmen
"With the Batman franchise in such decline, Warners needs to do some serious rethinking. They need to ditch the kid-friendly angle, because movies are simply not made to sell toys at McDonald's." (January 16, 1999) |
The Importance of Being "Psycho"
"Psycho 1998 will probably a better movie than Van Sant's two-hour Oscar plea Good Will Hunting, for these three reasons: 1) It does not star Matt Damon 2) It does not star Minnie Driver 3) It does not feature songs by Elliot Smith." (October 26, 1998) |
Die DIVX Die
"I am a pretty smart man. I can come up with more things to say than a full-grown chicken, and I've read over three books in the last twenty years. Which is why you should trust me when I warn you not to go near this newest, most-heinous of video formats." (October 11, 1998) |
Titanic: My Heart Will Go On, Damn It!
"I tried not to pay attention to the lamps or the coffee table or the fireplace, focusing instead on the tried-and-true story, a decidedly old-fashioned tale that gets the twelve year old girl inside me every time." (September 8, 1998) |
AFI 100 List Omissions
"The AFI stacked the deck, and the result was more than a little ludicrous. Rather than comment on every single entry, or formulate my own 100 best list, I want to discuss two glaring omissions: Ridley Scott's Blade Runner and David Lynch's Blue Velvet." (July 10, 1998) |
TV Movies
"My favourite TV movie is probably the one where Fred Savage plays a flaming nutjob who beats Candace Cameron to death. I believe it's called 'No One Would Tell.' Fred Savage plays a football jock who meets Cameron at a pizza parlour, and eventually charms insecure Candace with flowers and tricks like the old arm-over-the-shoulder-as-you-pretend-to-yawn thing. Soon, people begin to look at Cameron as a hottie, so Savage makes her dress down, like a tomboy." (June 27, 1998) |
|
dvd reviews: a to k | l to z | special categories