Tribeca ’07: The Cake Eaters (review)

You asked me to marry you, and then you took off without saying good-bye. Three men, three women, and a whole lotta tender secrets, aching desire, and broken hearts fill up the directorial debut of actor Mary Stuart Masterson — so much so that what seems at first like a lean, spare psychic space in … more…

Tribeca ’07: Nobel Son (review)

You’re lucky you’re not a genius. It’s one of those perfect-crime kinda flicks, wrapped up in familial angst as a black-comedy topping. That it’s all rather ridiculous and overly complicates itself in the process is almost beside the point … though not entirely. See, arrogant college prof and working scientist Eli Michaelson (Alan Rickman: Harry … more…

Tribeca ’07: Chasing 3000 (review)

No matter how bad things got, I always had Roger and the game. The year is 1972, and teenage baseball nut Mickey (Trevor Morgan: Off the Black) decides to drive from Los Angeles to Pittsburgh to see Pirate superstar Roberto Clemente make his legendary 3000th hit. Just for fun, he’ll take along his little brother, … more…

Tribeca ’07: Blue State (review)

He’ll be gone in four years! / And then we’ll have to get ready for Jeb! Ah, finally, a romantic comedy for those of us who live in, as we crazy leftwing nutjobs like to say, the reality-based community. After the 2004 election, despondent Kerry campaign worker John (Breckin Meyer: Garfield: A Tail of Two … more…

sad culinary news from the Tribeca Film Festival

I don’t get why people eat in Olive Garden in places like Iowa. I really don’t get why people eat in Olive Garden in the middle of the greatest restaurant city in the world. It deeply shames me that there are at least two of these monstrosities in Manhattan.

Tribeca ’07: Napoleon and Me (review)

The foul, bloodthirsty beast is reigning over the island… You know those wacky European films in which people scream a lot and hit one another with cheeses and dried sausages all in an expression of deep love? This is one of those movies. The disgraced emperor of the title is almost mere background to this … more…

Tribeca ’07: Eye of the Dolphin (review)

Are you saying I have a daughter? How’d that happen? / It’s called sex, Dad. Family films tend to suffer from an overabundance of sentimental sap, but this delightful drama about a father and a daughter rediscovering each other avoids that fate without giving up any of its sweet gentleness. The signs don’t look good … more…

previewing the Tribeca Film Festival

I haven’t been to the Tribeca Film Festival since 2003, and man, has it grown! Launching this Wednesday and running through May 6, more than 160 screenings, programs, and other events are taking over not just the neighborhood of Tribeca — in lower Manhattan near the former World Trade Center site — but theaters and … more…