If you don't know Michael Cristofer from Rubicon, you may be familiar with him as a Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright and occasional screenwriter (The Witches of Eastwick, The Bonfire of the Vanities). But if you do know Michael Cristofer from Rubicon, then he'll forever be Truxton Spangler -- the aloof, Corn Flakes-eating head of the American Policy Institute intelligence agency. Oh -- and also the guy who, in last week's episode, helped destroy the oil supply of the United States.
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We could all use a little more Juliette Lewis in our lives, and now, thank goodness, we're getting it. The actress perhaps best known for Natural Born Killers, Kalifornia and her Academy Award-nominated breakthrough in Cape Fear recently returned from an extended rock-and-roll sabbatical to appear in Whip It, The Switch, the upcoming Due Date and a pivotal, scene-stealing role in this weekend's Conviction.
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With two nights of Dancing with the Stars programming each week, it can be exhausting to look back and process all the sequins, steps, and Bruno Tonioli screaming. Luckily, sanity is in store for us all: Beginning today, ESPN sportscaster and Dancing with the Stars alum Erin Andrews will review each week's episodes with Movieline! You will note that Erin is 1) a shrewd critic, 2) serious about her Dancing with the Stars fanaticism, and 3) a total doll. Without further ado, let's check in with Andrews and review all the (well-choreographed) chaos.
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John Malkovich has been busy as usual of late -- but maybe not quite where you'd usually expect him to be busy. This week's graphic-novel adaptation Red features the 56-year-old in comic-paranoia mode as Marvin Boggs, a kill-happy CIA alumnus with a firearm fetish and an apparently indefinite acid hangover; together with fellow ex-agents Frank (Bruce Willis), Joe (Morgan Freeman), Victoria (Helen Mirren) and hapless civilian Sarah (Mary-Louise Parker), he embarks on an explode-y, bullet-riddled quest to determine why the current CIA regime wants them dead.
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While so many other new shows have already come and gone this season (with more perhaps on the way), Fox's sitcom Raising Hope has been a shining beacon of success. Already picked up for a full season and with ratings juggernaut Glee as a lead-in, the Greg Garcia-produced series -- about a single dad raising a child from a one-night stand with the help of his family -- is a television rarity in 2010: a critical success that people actually watch. Actor Garret Dillahunt (Deadwood, The Road, The Assassination of Jesse James), who stars on the show as what could be television's youngest grandfather, called last week to discuss the hit show and play a round of Movieline's My Favorite Scene.
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Édgar Ramírez isn't exactly what you'd call a stranger to American audiences, having delivered supporting performances in Stateside releases from Domino (2005) to The Bourne Ultimatum (2007). But no one has seen the 33-year-old Venezuelan native in a part quite as significant as the title role in Carlos, Olivier Assayas's sprawling, acclaimed biopic about notorious terrorist Carlos the Jackal. "Role of a lifetime" might be an understatement.
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Christopher Collins, Project Runway's resident nice guy and tanktop connoisseur this season, failed to ignite the judges on last night's episode and was sent home in sixth place. We talked to the 30-year-old San Francisco designer this morning about Heidi's confounding instructions, Nina Garcia's own "execution" issues, and why he "adores" Ivy.
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This weekend marks what would have been John Lennon's 70th birthday, and thus the release of the young-Lennon biopic Nowhere Boy marks the same occasion. The film features Aaron Johnson as the upstart songwriter and Beatles co-founder, navigating his way through the treacherous class-trap '50s-era Liverpool; former Movieline senior editor Kyle Buchanan spoke with the 20-year-old Johnson about Nowhere Boy after last January's US premiere at Sundance.
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It's just a fluke of industry timing and economics that Gemma Arterton happens to have opened four films this year in the United States, the last of which -- Tamara Drewe -- begins its run today in limited release. It's stranger still that we won't see Arterton again for at least another year -- just when we'd gotten used to her charm, poise, talent and allure. What gives?
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Just two episodes into the 36th season of Saturday Night Live, one featured player has distanced herself from the female 8H pack: Nasim Pedrad. The Iranian-born actress/comedienne beat out reliable SNL MVP Kristen Wiig for face time this past weekend thanks to her original character, Henry and a commercial parody about Pepto-Bismol Ice. Pedrad has also established her position as one of the most talented parts of the cast via another original character, Bedilia, and impressions of Christiane Amanpour, Kim Kardashian, Maria Menounos and Shakira. Not a bad variety of types, huh?
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Three years after delivering No End in Sight -- the definitive, devastating record of America's misbegotten march to war in Iraq -- director Charles Ferguson returns this week with the equally definitive, equally devastating Inside Job. This time around Ferguson takes on the global financial crisis, turning his eye to the mendacity, rapaciousness and thoroughly reckless deregulation that led to worst economic tailspin since the Great Depression. Watch out, Wall Street.
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In Stone, Edward Norton takes on the role of Gerald "Stone" Creeson, a cornrowed, street-wise arsonist who, about to come up before the parole board, is looking to hustle his way out of prison. His parole officer, Jack Mabry (Robert De Niro), is three months from retiring, grappling with a booze problem, and saddled with a shadow of a marriage. Everything appears to be going according to a secret plan concocted by Stone and his sexually predatory wife Lucetta (Milla Jovovich) to release Stone, until the prisoner appears to have something approximating a religious epiphany. But is it real or is it fake?
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If you've seen a mainstream comedy in the last five years, the chances are good you've seen Rob Huebel. From the MTV series Human Giant to I Love You, Man to The Other Guys to Adult Swim's Childrens Hospital, the UCB performer has appeared alongside his fair share of comedy icons. Huebel branches out a bit more this Friday when he co-stars opposite Katherine Heigl and Josh Duhamel in the romantic dramedy, Life as We Know It, and coming soon he'll tackle the biggest part of his career: That of George Clooney's best friend, in Alexander Payne's The Descendants.
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Chuck Lorre has had quite a run during the last 17 years: Grace Under Fire, Cybill, Dharma & Greg, Two and a Half Men and The Big Bang Theory. With Mike & Molly, the over-sized new Monday night sitcom starring Billy Gardell and Melissa McCarthy, the prolific writer/producer can add another hit to his list, but is the new series his favorite?
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In one giant, risky leap, Sarah Butler has pretty much traversed the spectrum of breakthroughs in her brief acting career to date, moving from playing Belle in Beauty and the Beast performances at Disneyland to the lead in the unrated remake of the infamous 1978 rape-revenge thriller I Spit on Your Grave.
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