UP IN THE AIR

“Up in the Air” is a grown-up movie about grown-up characters, for grown-ups. There isn’t a car chase, explosion, gunfight or bloodbath in the entire film. It’s low- key, literate, and infinitely charming.
And it works.
George Clooney plays Ryan Bingham, a part-time motivational speaker and full-time professional hatchet man who earns most of his [...]

THE PRINCESS AND THE FROG

Disney returns to its old-fashioned roots in the wildly colorful, darkly magical–and, most importantly, hand-drawn–”The Princess and the Frog”, a New Orleans-set fairy tale based on “The Frog Prince” that also happens to be the first Disney feature to star both an African-American heroine and a predominantly African- American cast.
The tale revolves around Tiana, the [...]

FELA!

“Fela!” is a whirlwind of song and dance, a perpetual motion machine in which all the parts are nearly always moving, always gyrating, largely in synch with the Afro-beat rhythms that give the show its pulse.
The star (and he is very much the star; he has nearly all the lines, and participates in practically all [...]

AVATAR

It’s been twelve years since film auteur and self-proclaimed “King of the World” James Cameron released the Oscar-winning hit, “Titanic”. Now, he’s finally come out with his long-awaited follow-up, the uber-hyped (and very un-”Titanic”-like) “Avatar”.
Was it worth the wait? Is King Jim still deserving of his crown?
Well…yes and no.
“Avatar” is, undeniably, a visual feast. [...]

POINT BRAZIL

Point Brazil has typical Brazilian food, at really affordable prices. Local people in Astoria, Queens, love eating there, specially on warm nights when they can sit outside and enjoy the nice neighborhood’s fresh air.
I went to Point Brazil a few times, and loved the food, as well as the nice and friendly people who [...]

FANTASTIC MR. FOX

The animated film, “Fantastic Mr. Fox” – starring George Clooney and Meryl Streep – is, at least in part, a caper movie, but not the kind in which expensively-dressed slicksters steal fortunes from shady Las Vegas casino owners (as in Clooney’s “Ocean’s 11″ movies, for example). No, the capers here involve chickens, smoked meat, and [...]