Now and Then
-
Thompson on Hollywood0 commentslike6tweet8
Now and Then: NBC's Big Miss, 'The New Normal,' Could Learn a Thing or Two from 'Sleepwalk With Me'
I look forward to each fall's slate of network comedies with roughly the same relish as I do a dental procedure. There are exceptions — "Modern Family" and "30 Rock," though they've struggled to stay fresh, started strong — but episodic comedy is hard to get right. Which is why I was surprised to fi...
Read More » -
Thompson on Hollywood1 commentlike2tweet3
Now and Then: The Evacuee's Guide to Movies
Living in New Orleans sometimes means leaving it. That's why, with Hurricane Isaac bearing down on the city, I hit the highway last Monday for an extended Florida sojourn. And since a film buff's road trip is nothing without a screening schedule, here's a handy guide to movies for your next evacuati...
Read More » -
Thompson on Hollywood1 commentlike2tweet9
Now and Then: For the Love of 'Bernie' and Jack Black
"Bernie" wears as many hats as a Texas cowboy. Somehow, and simultaneously, Richard Linklater's latest is a genuinely surprising confidence game, a homey slice of Southern life, and an eccentric black comedy of small-town manners. The most apt description is far simpler, though: "Bernie" is one of t...
Read More » -
Thompson on Hollywood0 commentslike1tweet6
Now and Then: Waiting for Julie Delpy
Full disclosure: I'm a little bit in love with Julie Delpy, sometimes unaccountably so. She's neurotic, fretful, and sharp-tongued, a femme fatale with a French accent and Woody Allen specs. Her first film as a director was a mess. And yet she keeps growing on me, a habit I just can't seem to break....
Read More » -
Thompson on Hollywood6 commentslike110tweet15
Now and Then: The Best of the Year So Far
The dog days of summer are here, and for moviegoers that usually means an August lull between tentpole extravaganzas and festival fodder, a chance to reflect on the year so far...
Read More » -
Thompson on Hollywood0 commentslike1tweet11
Now and Then: Raunchy 'Klown' and the Problem with Sex Comedies
Frank (Frank Hvam), the hapless protagonist of the funny but disappointingly diagrammatic Danish film "Klown," musters only one nugget of wisdom for his 12-year-old charge, Bo (Marcuz Jess Petersen). It's sage advice from a professional man-child to a burgeoning one: "When grown-ups are horny, they ...
Read More » -
Indiewire0 commentslike23tweet12
1995 Coming-of-Age Movie 'Now and Then' Possibly Becoming a TV Series
Directed by Lesli Linka Glatter, the nostalgia-heavy 1995 basic cable standard "Now and Then" was memorable for the way it suggested its prime crop of the era's teen actresses -- Christina Ricci, Thora Birch, Gaby Hoffmann and Ashleigh Aston Moore -- matched up with Rosi...
Read More » -
Thompson on Hollywood7 commentslike10tweet11
Now and Then: The Long, Slow Death of the Movie Musical
It's been 60 years since the musical's prime — when Gene Kelly and Stanley Donen, those sorcerers of sound, joined forces on "Singin' in the Rain" — so you'll forgive me if this week's theatrical screenings in honor of the anniversary feel less like a celebration than an obituary. The musical is dea...
Read More » -
Thompson on Hollywood2 commentslike2tweet5
Now and Then: '360,' Another of Fernando Meirelles' Beautiful Disappointments
Of all the sloppy descriptions in film criticism, "visceral" may be the most misleading. It's a frequent synonym for "loud," not to mention "flashy," "punishing," or "gory." What it almost never means is instinctive, earthy, and intestinal, so forthright it grabs you. Except, that is, when we're tal...
Read More » -
Thompson on Hollywood0 commentslike3tweet5
Now and Then: Hitchcock's First Classic, and an Underrated Modern Descendant
Alfred Hitchcock had been working as a director for more than a decade when he made "The 39 Steps" (1935), a film that's half trench coats, street lamps, and foreign agents. The other half is English wit, a marriage plot, and a MacGuffin: the first proof, long before his later masterworks, that he w...
Read More »
fresh from the blogs
-
Hollywood: Let There Be Light (Please?)Criticwire
-
Gareth Evans Is Action Director On 'The Night Comes ...The Playlist
-
Gabrielle Union Will Be Chris Rock's Reality TV Star ...Shadow and Act
-
Cannes Fest Diary: Le Weekend, from Compelling 'Jimmy ...Thompson on Hollywood
-
Ellen Destroys Abercrombie & Fitch CEO's Comments on ...Women and Hollywood
-
CANNES 2013: Images: Part 2Press Play
-
Good Night, Lost Boy(s)The Lost Boys
-
In Search Of ‘The Searchers’Leonard Maltin
on 
