“What looks at first to be remarkable, bizarre, will soon reveal itself to be part of a pattern,” sings Ethan Dobson (Ben Levi Ross), a just-out-of-Princeton wünderkind, at the start of the new musical The Connector, as he lands a coveted job writing features for a legendary magazine. And though he explains that the lyric is a quote from the venerated founder of the titular magazine, what’s quickly revealed is that it’s Ethan himself who’s remarkable, bizarre, and part of a pattern we’ll soon recognize all too well.
That pattern, especially as exposed under the blazing spotlight shone by Robin Martinez (Hannah Cruz), an overlooked female Latina staffer at the magazine and the musical’s blistering narrator, is nothing less than the patriarchy. “Half the stories of the world are left unwritten/Half the stories of the world are kept unread,” Robin protests in “Cassandra,” the...
That pattern, especially as exposed under the blazing spotlight shone by Robin Martinez (Hannah Cruz), an overlooked female Latina staffer at the magazine and the musical’s blistering narrator, is nothing less than the patriarchy. “Half the stories of the world are left unwritten/Half the stories of the world are kept unread,” Robin protests in “Cassandra,” the...
- 2/7/2024
- by Dan Rubins
- Slant Magazine
The London tabloid world has traditionally been a sort of journalism Bizarro World, where entrapment is standard practice and news is manufactured on a profit-driven whim, often at the expense of innocent victims. For two decades, Mazher Mahmood strode over this ethics-starved world like a corrupt colossus, enabled by his employers, chiefly News of the World, to destroy lives as an “undercover reporter.”
Mahmood, dubbed “The Fake Sheikh” for the disguise he used to ensnare many of his unwitting targets, once gathered up a large group of illegal immigrants, delivered them to the police,...
Mahmood, dubbed “The Fake Sheikh” for the disguise he used to ensnare many of his unwitting targets, once gathered up a large group of illegal immigrants, delivered them to the police,...
- 9/25/2023
- by Chris Vognar
- Rollingstone.com
Acting may seem like the most glamorous job on the planet – provided you’re good at it, that is.
Actors like Daniel Day Lewis and Leonardo DiCaprio have become synonymous with talent and charisma. But names like Adam Sandler or Hayden Christensen have something of a different connotation.
However, filmmaking is a collaborative process, and a dodgy performance is seldom the responsibility of just one person.
That’s why, every so often, a much-maligned actor will suddenly pop up to deliver a performance of real heft and accomplishment.
Sometimes, this finally gives the actor their due, and they are lavished with awards and industry praise.
Other times, people don’t even bat an eyelid – but the work speaks for itself.
From Arnold Schwarzenegger to Vince Vaughn, here are 17 brilliant performances by critically maligned actors, selected by The Independent…
Adam Sandler – Uncut Gems (2020)
For years, Adam Sandler has been renowned for...
Actors like Daniel Day Lewis and Leonardo DiCaprio have become synonymous with talent and charisma. But names like Adam Sandler or Hayden Christensen have something of a different connotation.
However, filmmaking is a collaborative process, and a dodgy performance is seldom the responsibility of just one person.
That’s why, every so often, a much-maligned actor will suddenly pop up to deliver a performance of real heft and accomplishment.
Sometimes, this finally gives the actor their due, and they are lavished with awards and industry praise.
Other times, people don’t even bat an eyelid – but the work speaks for itself.
From Arnold Schwarzenegger to Vince Vaughn, here are 17 brilliant performances by critically maligned actors, selected by The Independent…
Adam Sandler – Uncut Gems (2020)
For years, Adam Sandler has been renowned for...
- 10/22/2022
- by Louis Chilton
- The Independent - Film
Not Okay wastes no time telling us that its central character, a vapid Insta-famous charlatan named Danni Sanders (Zoey Deutch), is a bad person. Like, not a single second: Before the movie has even begun, a disclaimer pops up that warns of “flashing lights, themes of trauma, and an unlikable female protagonist.” Is that last bit simply pure cheekiness on the part of writer-director Quinn Shephard (Blame), or just a cautious way to kick off a cautionary comedy about a liar who incurs the outrage of social media? You can...
- 7/27/2022
- by A.A. Dowd
- Rollingstone.com
This Obi-Wan Kenobi article contains spoilers.
Obi-Wan Kenobi brings back Ewan McGregor and Hayden Christensen to their iconic Star Wars roles, but the show also boasts a very strong ensemble cast beyond its central stars. There’s Moses Ingram as the menacing new villain Reva and Rupert Friend as the Grand Inquisitor, as well as quite a few welcome surprises fans will be talking about far after the credits have rolled.
Here are the Obi-Wan Kenobi actors you need to know and where you’ve seen them before:
Ewan McGregor as Obi-Wan Kenobi
You know Ewan McGregor well. But in case you somehow missed the Prequel Trilogy, McGregor first played the role of Obi-Wan Kenobi in 1999’s The Phantom Menace, reprising the role in Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith. Before Star Wars, he was best known for his character Mark Renton in Danny Boyle’s Trainspotting.
Obi-Wan Kenobi brings back Ewan McGregor and Hayden Christensen to their iconic Star Wars roles, but the show also boasts a very strong ensemble cast beyond its central stars. There’s Moses Ingram as the menacing new villain Reva and Rupert Friend as the Grand Inquisitor, as well as quite a few welcome surprises fans will be talking about far after the credits have rolled.
Here are the Obi-Wan Kenobi actors you need to know and where you’ve seen them before:
Ewan McGregor as Obi-Wan Kenobi
You know Ewan McGregor well. But in case you somehow missed the Prequel Trilogy, McGregor first played the role of Obi-Wan Kenobi in 1999’s The Phantom Menace, reprising the role in Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith. Before Star Wars, he was best known for his character Mark Renton in Danny Boyle’s Trainspotting.
- 5/27/2022
- by John Saavedra
- Den of Geek
“Anamorphic is How the World Looks When Donald Trump Becomes President”: Billy Ray on The Comey Rule
Ever since his 2003 directorial debut Shattered Glass, which told the story of disgraced journalist Stephen Glass and his downfall at The New Republic, Billy Ray has been one of the finest filmmakers we have when it comes to turning recent history into riveting cinema. Breach (about FBI agent turned Russian spy Robert Hanssen) and Ray-scripted films for other directors like Captain Phillips and Richard Jewell are all marked by Ray’s ability to tackle complex subject matter with clarity and concision, making complicated stories accessible without compromising their ambiguities and provocations. Although as both a writer and director Ray has […]...
- 9/23/2020
- by Jim Hemphill
- Filmmaker Magazine-Director Interviews
“Anamorphic is How the World Looks When Donald Trump Becomes President”: Billy Ray on The Comey Rule
Ever since his 2003 directorial debut Shattered Glass, which told the story of disgraced journalist Stephen Glass and his downfall at The New Republic, Billy Ray has been one of the finest filmmakers we have when it comes to turning recent history into riveting cinema. Breach (about FBI agent turned Russian spy Robert Hanssen) and Ray-scripted films for other directors like Captain Phillips and Richard Jewell are all marked by Ray’s ability to tackle complex subject matter with clarity and concision, making complicated stories accessible without compromising their ambiguities and provocations. Although as both a writer and director Ray has […]...
- 9/23/2020
- by Jim Hemphill
- Filmmaker Magazine - Blog
by Michael Cusumano
Scene: Fact-Finding Trip
The great real life journalism movies tend to focus on stories of monumental impact. Films like Spotlight or The Insider or All the Presidents Men are about reporters tangling with the most powerful institutions in America and uncovering scandals that affect the lives of millions.
And yet, for all their importance, I find myself thinking about those films less frequently than I think about Billy Ray’s Shattered Glass, which details a comparatively minor subject. Why is this story the one that haunts my thoughts? I was not one of Stephen Glass’s readers. Had it not been for the film I might never had heard of the wunderkind journalist who turned out to be a rampant fabulist, publishing at least twenty-seven whole or partly fabricated stories as fact during his time at The New Republic magazine...
Scene: Fact-Finding Trip
The great real life journalism movies tend to focus on stories of monumental impact. Films like Spotlight or The Insider or All the Presidents Men are about reporters tangling with the most powerful institutions in America and uncovering scandals that affect the lives of millions.
And yet, for all their importance, I find myself thinking about those films less frequently than I think about Billy Ray’s Shattered Glass, which details a comparatively minor subject. Why is this story the one that haunts my thoughts? I was not one of Stephen Glass’s readers. Had it not been for the film I might never had heard of the wunderkind journalist who turned out to be a rampant fabulist, publishing at least twenty-seven whole or partly fabricated stories as fact during his time at The New Republic magazine...
- 9/4/2019
- by Michael C.
- FilmExperience
The leading German weekly magazine Der Spiegel has fired award-winning journalist Claas Relotius after he admitted to writing fabricated stories.
After an investigation, the fabrications were “on a grand scale” and his articles contained made-up people and quotes in over a dozen articles, according to the New York Times.
To add even more salt to the wound, the Relotius’s articles went on to be nominated for major journalism awards — some of which he won. Some of the articles included stories about Iraqi children kidnapped by the Islamic State, a Guantanamo Bay prisoner as well as Syrian orphans working in a Turkish sweatshop.
Relotius’s story parallels that of Stephen Glass, who once wrote for The New Republic. During his time at the magazine that was once considered the in-flight magazine of Air Force One, he, like Relotius, invented quotations, events, and people for his articles.
In 1998, H.G. Bissinger...
After an investigation, the fabrications were “on a grand scale” and his articles contained made-up people and quotes in over a dozen articles, according to the New York Times.
To add even more salt to the wound, the Relotius’s articles went on to be nominated for major journalism awards — some of which he won. Some of the articles included stories about Iraqi children kidnapped by the Islamic State, a Guantanamo Bay prisoner as well as Syrian orphans working in a Turkish sweatshop.
Relotius’s story parallels that of Stephen Glass, who once wrote for The New Republic. During his time at the magazine that was once considered the in-flight magazine of Air Force One, he, like Relotius, invented quotations, events, and people for his articles.
In 1998, H.G. Bissinger...
- 12/20/2018
- by Dino-Ray Ramos
- Deadline Film + TV
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