The lights are going out on Broadway as show after show closes: Hairspray, Young Frankenstein, and Boeing-Boeing got zapped right around the new year, and somewhere in late 2008 Rent, Cry-baby, and Xanadu also flamed out. The relief is stupendous. With any luck the whole theatrical profession will be kaput by 2010. Just think of all that wonderful darkness and silence where the revival of Grease used to be!
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Hi,

I wrote you a letter years ago and i was astonished to find (when doing an ego search) my name on the net. I hate finding my name on the net, I don’t have a net presence! Can you please remove any reference to me or not use my name. I was young and foolish then. (more…)

Ossified baby, anyone?

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button—is it one of the worst American films of 2008, or THE worst American film of 2008? Can’t be the worst, you’ll argue, not while we have Australia to kick around. True. But both are examples of a rotten tendency in American filmmaking toward what critic Manny Farber used to call “White Elephant Art”: big fat overblown pompous moralizing messagey inert bathetic crap that wins awards. Button also features leaden whimsy, a cast of thousands of dull characters spouting folksy sayings, and thick golden visuals that look as if all the scenes of the past were dipped in maple syrup.

In fact, I think it merits the First Annual Stilly Award for the unmovingest movie of the year.

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