Bryan Adrian's Off-Broadway Theatre Review:
CALISTA FLOCKHART Returned
to the NEW YORK STAGE in a New Take on MEDEA,

of the Greek Tragedies, or "Akadia??,



click here for full review by Bryan Adrian

click here for Part II of THE HOLLYWOOD TATTLER ... now!

MARGI CLARKE

The inimitable Margi Clarke, of CORONATION STREET!!

click here for lots of creative wordplay by Bryan Adrian

Winter 2002 ... and Hollywood Tattler features a new reviewer in its New York City stable, Brian Fairbanks ... click here for Monica Lewinsky's PRISON NOTEBOOKS, for more on the penal colonies of the USA

"STRAIGHT TIME" [1978]

by Brian Fairbanks

Human Nature on the Run In the Trenches of the Nineteen-Seventies

There�s an eerie sequence (one of several) in the film �Straight Time?where Dustin Hoffman, a new victim of parole, is desperate for a job. The secretary at the employment agency (Theresa Russell) sits up straight, excuses herself to take a phone call, accidentally hangs up, apologies to her boss for not putting the call on hold correctly, flips through some papers, and checks her Rolodex. You can feel Max, Hoffman�s character, ready to reach across the desk and either shake the girl to the point of understanding or kiss her so savagely that she�ll realize her love is the only thing that can save him. Instead he says, �I really need this fucking job."

The movie was released in 1978. Yes, Carter, the oil crisis, a mini-recession. Jobs for all! Of course, as long as you didn�t mind a position you were overqualified for and would never tell your future grandkids about. The film encapsulates an era in which anything that was not up to society�s standards-- including stealing a loaf of bread to survive on-- would be severely punished. Sound familiar?

Today it is no less pertinent. Certainly the convict-who-can�t-go-clean and the secretary-with-the-heart-of-gold setup has long since worn out its welcome at studio pitch meetings, but for those who have missed out on it (the film isn�t fawned over at schools and festivals as much as similar but inferior films like �The Killing? or �Buffalo 66?, here is what will likely serve as your only mirror from the past on the harsh realities on the post-911 lowlife. How likely is it that Hollywood will release another tale of a protagonist, a violent burglar who carelessly ropes a barely legal bookish blond into showing up for his last stand as a free spirit, and is himself practically elevated to martyr status for having to face bureaucracy, the justice system, and a society where �what matters is what you have in [your wallet.]? At least in jail, he reasons, respect is determined by what you really are.

Unfortunately, you will have to stick to your VCR for your dose of criminal reality. How many films will be released before Bush�s retirement that depict a selfish modern-day Robin Hood wounding cops and savagely murdering a new daddy in the name of revenge and survival. Just wait.

And how often is it that a performance is so effective that you almost forget a famous actor gave it? In general, Method acting is overrated for precisely this reason: one doesn�t want to actually witness Robert De Niro on heroin, that�s not entertainment, that�s a documentary or the audience�s real-life neighborhood.

But there is no cheating from Hoffman here: sure, he may have practiced mock bank robberies during rehearsals, but what ends up on screen is not an �actor who has turned into a thief? or even an �actor putting all his heart into his character.? More like: there�s Max, a character we empathize with and root for and then in the closing credits there�s some guy named Dustin who�s listed on the same line as him.

One thing I would have liked to have seen more of is character development. Max does seem a bit of a pawn at times, and not always an effective one. And if the filmmaker, Ulu Grosbard, a Belgian, was to go the distance to really strike at the heart of our correctional system, there would have at least more than one scene depicting an intimate monologue in which Max recalls his harsh existence in prison life. But these are small omissions, and one should not complain of a film reaching beyond its grasp.

2002 has not been a very good year for movies. Not only are sales disappointing, but even the art house crowd is giving up hope. Witness the huge success of �My Big Fat Greek Wedding," which took in twenty times its indie-budget. That�s wonderful news; it�s too bad a more original, better film, that passed silently into oblivion didn�t take its place. Here�s hoping the rest of the cinema year will continue to be more like 1978, and that somebody will sneak out another �Straight Time.?

�Hollywood's Big Guns Come Right From the Department of Defense, the Pentagon, and the CIA

By KATHARINE Q. SEELYE

WASHINGTON, June 9 - The military deployment involved two B-2 bombers, two F-16 fighter jets and the National Airborne Operations Center, the highly secure communications aircraft, in a modified 747 jet, reserved for the president and his top staff in case of nuclear attack ?the massive mobilization by the Pentagon was part of a joint assault with a staunch historic ally, Hollywood. It might have been called Operation Product Placement, but most people know it as "The Sum of All Fears," the new movie adaptation of the 1991 Tom Clancy book about nuclear terrorism.

The military establishment has been cooperating with Hollywood for nearly a century, with a noticeable break in the Vietnam years.

But in recent times, with movie budgets swelling into the hundreds of millions of dollars, the Defense Department's contribution - and thus the American taxpayer's - has grown ever bigger and more elaborate.

It seems to have reached a new high with "The Sum of All Fears," for which Paramount Pictures deployed two Hollywood stars, Ben Affleck and Morgan Freeman, supported by the celluloid equivalent of a small nation's armed forces.

The military gets the chance to put its best foot forward, which officials say is essential in seeking recruits at a time when there is no draft and the nation is on a war footing.

[�] critics say that taxpayers are subsidizing Hollywood and get little more than pro-military propaganda in return.

"The military does a lot of great things," said Ivan Eland, a defense analyst at the Cato Institute, a Libertarian Party research group. "But this is the bureaucracy enhancing its own reputation at taxpayer expense. It's doling out subsidies to people who toe the government line."

The Pentagon says it denies more requests than it accepts, "Courage Under Fire," which starred Meg Ryan, being a recent [scrubbed] example. "There wasn't a good soldier among them," Mr. Strub said of the characters in the 1996 movie.

Cooperation between the military and Hollywood is practically as old as celluloid itself. When D. W. Griffith made "The Birth of a Nation" in 1915, West Point engineers gave him technical advice on his Civil War battle scenes and provided him with artillery.

The C.I.A., eying the derring-do images created for the military, the Secret Service and the F.B.I., got into the act only in the last five years. Mr. Brandon, the agency's liaison to Hollywood, said the C.I.A. saw a chance, and a need, to burnish its image.

"We've been made to look worse and worse," said Mr. Chase Brandon, 55, a former undercover operative. "We've had operations fail, we've had traitors in our midst," he said. "We're not looking to rewrite that history or whitewash those representations. But we hope the good things will be presented along with the negative."

The Pentagon [however] does not charge for technical assistance, which can be extensive. "The Sum of All Fears" used numerous military experts, including a radiologic assessment team to help approximate the effects of a nuclear blast.

Scroll down to read of Tatum O'neal's persistent cynicism and melancholia -- yet still hopeful, Calista Flockhart's marriage plans, Sandra Bullock's motorcycle vows, and Kirstin's crush on DeGeneres....







ROBERT DOWNEY ALSO IS BACK! ... and married into money! CLICK here.... "how to marry a film producer" .... KISS KISS BANG BANG ... Downey's connections are his wife, Susan Levin, and producer Joel Silver, who gave Downey his 1985 teen break in WIERD SCIENCE. Silver also produced this years Kiss Kiss Bang Bang with Val Kilmer. Downey met his wife on the set of GOTHIKA, which she produced. Levin and Silver are producing partners. Mel Gibson, an old buddy of Downey's from their LETHAL WEAPON crack detective days, put in his producer's hand, in addition. Friends like that place money into your hands or you can put it in your pipe and smoke it like a shaman!

A late-1999 film with Year 2001 TONY Theatre winning actress, MARY-LOUISE PARKER, titled "THE FIVE SENSES," is still unequaled in the English and French bilingual market, for quality, ever since its original Canadian and Cannes release ... click here for a short review of perhaps the finest international film in the last two years to be rented out by BLOCKBUSTERS, stretching from Albany to San Ysidro, Calif., to Calgary, Canada!

What do these FOUR actresses have in common?? CLUE: We are NOT speaking of P$R$O$F$I$T$S !

Peel away the skin, fluoresce the face, and what are you left with? Looks like "ET"!! Be very VERY Careful!

Sandra Bullock, Robert Downey Jr. clutch Harvard's Hasty Pudding honors ...

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. - Actress Sandra Bullock, and Robert Downey Jr., grab the Hasty Pudding awards at Harvard University.

[editor's note: Miss Bullock's reception of her award this year was greeted with a look-alike Sylvester Stallone asking her how she gets dates]

Hasty Pudding Theatricals is a tradition at Harvard University dating back to 1795. The group grew from a small society that mandated members provide hasty pudding at every meeting to an organization that puts on comedy drag shows yearly, satirizing life at Harvard, and beyond.

There was no mention this year of the embezzlement charges brought against Suzanne M. Pomey and Randy J. Gomes, Harvard seniors who held top positions in the Hasty Pudding Theatricals two years ago. The two pleaded guilty to stealing at least $100,000 from the group. Prosecutors said that the students used the money to support a drug habit and to fund shopping sprees.

The two awards, announced on consecutive Thursdays, are given to performers who have made a "lasting and impressive contribution to the world of entertainment" by Hasty Pudding Theatricals, the nation's oldest undergraduate drama troupe.

Bullock led a parade through the streets of Harvard Square on Feb. 12 with Harvard students dressed in drag. Downey appeared Feb. 19 at the opening night of the Hasty Pudding production, "As the Word Turns."

Bullock's breakthrough role came in the 1994 hit movie, "Speed," followed by "While You Were Sleeping," which earned her a Golden Globe nomination.

Bullock, 40, has also starred in such films as "Hope Floats" and "Secrets of the Ya Ya Sisterhood." Her most recent role was opposite Hugh Grant in the romantic comedy "Two Weeks Notice."

Downey, 39, was nominated for an Academy Award for his role in "Chaplin" in 1992. More recent film credits include "Gothika," with Halle Berry and Penelope Cruz.

Downey also appeared on the television program, "Ally McBeal," earning a Golden Globe award and an Emmy nomination.

Last year's Hasty Pudding honorees were actress Anjelica Huston and director Martin Scorsese.