Broadway Boundless

Movies may be a better medium for the musical Hairspray’s joyous energy.

POSTED // Aug 20,2007 - I haven’t seen the 1988 John Waters film of the same name upon which Hairspray is based. Or, perhaps more to the point, I should say that I haven’t seen the Broadway adaptation of Waters’ movie that debuted in 2002 and is still going...

News & Columns

Film School

Back to School ’07: What you’d know about college if you believed what you saw in the movies.

By MaryAnn Johanson

POSTED // Aug 15,2007 - It’s August, which means it’s disgustingly hot, there’s crap at the multiplexes and kids are getting ready to go back to school. Suckers. I, proud university dropout, am of a mind with Mark Twain, who never let his schooling...

Film & TV

Version Territory

The DVD industry could be driving away buyers with its multiple-release options.

By MaryAnn Johanson

POSTED // Aug 8,2007 - I finally indulged in a widescreen HDTV recently. I’m in love with it, and I can’t believe I waited this long to buy one. But I’m making do with a standard up-converting DVD player for the moment because I’m seriously in the grips...

Arts & Entertainment

Director Marketing

“Superindie” filmmakers offer their unique work straight to your DVD player.

By MaryAnn Johanson

POSTED // Jul 6,2007 - The Internet has made it an exciting time to be a movie fan.nnAnd I’m not just referring to how the Web has taken film fandom into whole new realms that encompass geekboy ecstasy as well as serious, thoughtful criticism, the likes of which the mainstream...

Film & TV

Fangs, But No Fangs

Dark vs. Light turns into just another cool-looking commercial in Day Watch.

By MaryAnn Johanson

POSTED // Jun 18,2007 - I suffered through Night Watch, and I thought that was enough. I knew there was a sequel'maybe two'on the way, and I figured I’d just avoid them.nnBut I couldn’t help it. Like a geek to cool crap, I was drawn back. Because, you know, Night...

Arts & Entertainment

Out of the Sun

By MaryAnn Johanson

POSTED // Jun 11,2007 - Slamdance The granddaddy of Sundance counterprogramming heads into its ninth festival this year with 16 feature films—plucked from a record 2,800 submissions—that run the gamut of what you’d expect from an alternative to an alternative...

Arts & Entertainment

September Mourn

On the five-year anniversary, movies address life in post-9/11 New York.

By MaryAnn Johanson

POSTED // Jun 11,2007 - Full disclosure: As a New Yorker born and bred, I may be slightly biased. But, while it may have been the nation as a whole that was targeted by terrorists five years ago, the people of the city of New York bore the brunt of the attacks of 9/11. The...

Arts & Entertainment

Toon Up

DVD collections showcase a 1990s golden age of adult-friendly animation.

By MaryAnn Johanson

POSTED // Jun 11,2007 - The phrase “Saturday morning TV” holds for me a heady nostalgia for a time of which I can only dream. I look at TV listings today, and I see titles like Trollz and Bratz, and it makes me weep. You see, I recall that golden age of the early...

Arts & Entertainment

Bouncing Back from “Sold Out”

When there are no seats left in the house, here’s what to take back to your own house.

By MaryAnn Johanson

POSTED // Jun 11,2007 - The Christmas season is one of the busiest at the multiplexes, with kids and teens out of school and everyone looking to kick back and hang out. That also means getting locked out of that hot flick you really wanted to see'you know, the one everyone...

Arts & Entertainment

The Art of the Cinematic Put-On

When movies attempt to fake you up.

By MaryAnn Johanson

POSTED // Jun 11,2007 - Borat isn’t quite a real fake documentary, and An Inconvenient Truth is a real documentary that some folks would prefer to think is fake. But the mockumentary'“mock” sometimes meaning merely “phony,” but almost always also...