When Harold Pinter wrote his absurdist debut drama, The Room, in 1957, it wasn’t intended it to be an easy play. He was rumored to have written it in two days, which sounds easy, and the production requires no more than a couple of chairs and a modest cast of six — also easy. But if absurdism chronicles our inherent drive to derive value and meaning from life when none is to be found, then ticket-holders might expect a long grueling night at the theater. Yet while the Wooster Group's embattled but mesmerizing production straddles a startling divide
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- 2/5/2016
- by Jordan Riefe
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Paul Scheer and Rob Huebel have plenty in common: endless improv chops, an appreciation for terrible cinema (Scheer hosts the podcast "How Did This Get Made?" about lame movies; Huebel hosts the La Upright Citizens Brigade revue "The Shit Show" where guests discuss their worst performances and gigs), and now, the experience of performing together on a giant glass bus. Their new special "Crash Test" sees the comics entertaining an audience on a large party bus as it travels through Los Angeles. On their journey, they meet fellow comics Aziz Ansari, Andy Daly, Rob Corddry, Aubrey Plaza, Natasha Leggero, Jack McBrayer, Thomas Lennon, Ian Karmel, and more. It's a wild ensemble held together by Scheer and Huebel's vaudevillian stamina. We caught up with Scheer and Huebel to discuss friendship in the comedy community, the greatness of bad movies, and what to think of the plagiarism scandal surrounding Twitter star Josh Ostrovsky,...
- 8/18/2015
- by Louis Virtel
- Hitfix
Part I. Anger, Suez and Archie Rice
“There they are,” George Devine told John Osborne, surveying The Entertainer‘s opening night audience. “All waiting for you…Same old pack of c***s, fashionable assholes. Just more of them than usual.” The Royal Court had arrived: no longer outcasts, they were London’s main attraction.
Look Back in Anger vindicated Devine’s model of a writer’s-based theater. Osborne’s success attracted a host of dramatists to Sloane Square. There’s Shelagh Delaney, whose A Taste of Honey featured a working-class girl pregnant from an interracial dalliance; Harold Pinter’s The Room, a bizarre “comedy of menace”; and John Arden’s Serjeant Musgrave’s Dance, which aimed a Gatling gun at its audience. Devine encouraged them, however bold or experimental. “You always knew he was on the writer’s side,” Osborne said.
Peter O’Toole called the Royal Court actors “an...
“There they are,” George Devine told John Osborne, surveying The Entertainer‘s opening night audience. “All waiting for you…Same old pack of c***s, fashionable assholes. Just more of them than usual.” The Royal Court had arrived: no longer outcasts, they were London’s main attraction.
Look Back in Anger vindicated Devine’s model of a writer’s-based theater. Osborne’s success attracted a host of dramatists to Sloane Square. There’s Shelagh Delaney, whose A Taste of Honey featured a working-class girl pregnant from an interracial dalliance; Harold Pinter’s The Room, a bizarre “comedy of menace”; and John Arden’s Serjeant Musgrave’s Dance, which aimed a Gatling gun at its audience. Devine encouraged them, however bold or experimental. “You always knew he was on the writer’s side,” Osborne said.
Peter O’Toole called the Royal Court actors “an...
- 3/13/2015
- by Christopher Saunders
- SoundOnSight
Put your pens away. Here are all the headlines that will never come to pass after this year's weird, chill, old Grammys came and went. -- Petty Revenge: Why Sam Smith Went Home Empty-Handed Iggy Azalea And The Forgiving Race Grace Of Grammy Gospel Choirs: Why Are They So Under-Used Beck Can't Catch A Break: Three Different Decades Of Disappointment Beyonce's Album Of The Year Win: Will Her First Be Her Last? Boy Were The Grammys Hedonistic And Godless This Year #LeftShark Returns: Katy Perry's Sidekick Gets A Grammys Sequel Pharrell Finally Dressed Like An Adult All About That Brass: Meghan Trainor Wins Big For Big Why The Recording Academy Endorsed Spotify Redeemed! Gwen Stefani's Finally Forgiven For Harajuku Girls After Knock-Out Performance The Softer Side Of Madonna? Kanye West's No-Show: The Ultimate Grammy Troll Kanye West Keeps It Low-Key After The 2015 Grammys Taylor Swift Keeps...
- 2/9/2015
- by Katie Hasty
- Hitfix
Simon Brew Aug 8, 2017
There are profound messages to be discovered in Arnold Schwarzenegger's 1990 comedy vehicle Kindergarten Cop. Really. Ahem.
This article contains spoilers for Kindergarten Cop.
See related Star Wars: Rogue One review Star Wars: Rogue One - what did you think?
When Arnold Schwarzenegger teamed up with director Ivan Reitman for the first time, the pair struck box office gold. The project that brought them together? Twins, the ultimate high concept movie, that paired Arnie with Danny DeVito. Much money was made, and Twins is one of the films that Arnie is now trying to get a sequel moving to as he attempts to pump life into his box office powers. Not much has been hgeard there for a long time, though.
Reitman and Schwarzenegger would team up for two more comedies, to which Schwarzenegger appears less interested in resurrecting. Junior would follow in 1994, but it's...
There are profound messages to be discovered in Arnold Schwarzenegger's 1990 comedy vehicle Kindergarten Cop. Really. Ahem.
This article contains spoilers for Kindergarten Cop.
See related Star Wars: Rogue One review Star Wars: Rogue One - what did you think?
When Arnold Schwarzenegger teamed up with director Ivan Reitman for the first time, the pair struck box office gold. The project that brought them together? Twins, the ultimate high concept movie, that paired Arnie with Danny DeVito. Much money was made, and Twins is one of the films that Arnie is now trying to get a sequel moving to as he attempts to pump life into his box office powers. Not much has been hgeard there for a long time, though.
Reitman and Schwarzenegger would team up for two more comedies, to which Schwarzenegger appears less interested in resurrecting. Junior would follow in 1994, but it's...
- 5/11/2014
- Den of Geek
There are profound messages to be discovered in Arnold Schwarzenegger's 1990 comedy vehicle Kindergarten Cop. Really. Ahem.
Feature
This article contains spoilers for Kindergarten Cop.
When Arnold Schwarzenegger teamed up with director Ivan Reitman for the first time, the pair struck box office gold. The project that brought them together? Twins, the ultimate high concept movie, that paired Arnie with Danny DeVito. Much money was made, and Twins is one of the films that Arnie is now trying to get a sequel moving to as he attempts to pump life into his box office powers.
Reitman and Schwarzenegger would team up for two more comedies, to which Schwarzenegger appears less interested in resurrecting. Junior would follow in 1994, but it's 1990's Kindergarten Cop that we're focusing on here.
Now Kindergarten Cop wasn't quite the box office triumph that Twins was, but it wasn't far off. Twins took $216m worldwide in 1988 (inflation adjusted,...
Feature
This article contains spoilers for Kindergarten Cop.
When Arnold Schwarzenegger teamed up with director Ivan Reitman for the first time, the pair struck box office gold. The project that brought them together? Twins, the ultimate high concept movie, that paired Arnie with Danny DeVito. Much money was made, and Twins is one of the films that Arnie is now trying to get a sequel moving to as he attempts to pump life into his box office powers.
Reitman and Schwarzenegger would team up for two more comedies, to which Schwarzenegger appears less interested in resurrecting. Junior would follow in 1994, but it's 1990's Kindergarten Cop that we're focusing on here.
Now Kindergarten Cop wasn't quite the box office triumph that Twins was, but it wasn't far off. Twins took $216m worldwide in 1988 (inflation adjusted,...
- 5/11/2014
- by simonbrew
- Den of Geek
Chud James Franco to direct a film based on the making of bad movie everyone obsesses over which I haven't seen The Room. You guys, I can't even with Franco's lack of focus. I mean I don't dislike him. I think he's interesting but he is way too scattered.
In Contention on Santa Barbara's Robert Redford tribute
Guardian Valentino makes a gauche error, pimping the fact that Amy Adams carried a Valentino bag to Psh's funeral stating they didn't know it was a funeral photo. Um, everyone is in black and they look abso-depressed
Mnpp who knew that Fran Kranz from Dollhouse had that chest under his clothes and why on earth didn't Joss Whedon exploit it on that oft-horny show?
NY Times Maureen O'Dowd wonders what Network's Paddy Chayefsky would think of today's click-driven world with its total monetization of every editorial decision
Awards Daily a BAFTA members...
In Contention on Santa Barbara's Robert Redford tribute
Guardian Valentino makes a gauche error, pimping the fact that Amy Adams carried a Valentino bag to Psh's funeral stating they didn't know it was a funeral photo. Um, everyone is in black and they look abso-depressed
Mnpp who knew that Fran Kranz from Dollhouse had that chest under his clothes and why on earth didn't Joss Whedon exploit it on that oft-horny show?
NY Times Maureen O'Dowd wonders what Network's Paddy Chayefsky would think of today's click-driven world with its total monetization of every editorial decision
Awards Daily a BAFTA members...
- 2/9/2014
- by NATHANIEL R
- FilmExperience
In honor of "Betrayal"'s Broadway opening, the Film Society of Lincoln Center has fashioned a Pinter-centric program, presenting some of the best adaptations of the Englishman's work, in addition to his own screenplays. Pinter's career as a playwright began with a production of "The Room" in 1957, and eventually spanned more than 50 years, netting him the 2005 Nobel Prize for Literature and the French Légion d'honneur in 2007. His best-known plays include "The Birthday Party" (1957), "The Homecoming" (1964), and "Betrayal" (1978), each of which he adapted for the screen. His screenplay adaptations of others' works include "The Servant" (1963), "The Go-Between" (1970), "The French Lieutenant's Woman" (1981), "The Trial" (1993), and "Sleuth" (2007).“The Broadway production of one of Harold Pinter’s masterpieces, 'Betrayal,' is sure to be one of the theatrical events of the year, and provided the perfect occasion for us to revisit Pinter’s body of work for the cinema” said Gavin...
- 10/29/2013
- by Sarah Salovaara
- Indiewire
She's famed for playing icy control freaks. But Lindsay Duncan wanted more laughs in her new film Le Week-End. And, really, she'd love to pack it all in and head for India
• First look review: Le Week-End
Happy news for the autumn day: love dies and flesh withers and your nearest and dearest can become your deadliest foe. This, at least, is the set up for Le Week-end, a bitter, biting drama about bitter, biting people; a film that rages against the dying of the light. Lindsay Duncan and Jim Broadbent star as Meg and Nick, a pair of sparring academics whose 30th anniversary hits the buffers as their train pulls into Paris's Gare du Nord. Up ahead we shall find squabbles, misery and the rattling spectre of adultery. "I was always asking for more laughs," Duncan says ruefully. "That didn't get me anywhere."
I meet the actor in a north London cafe,...
• First look review: Le Week-End
Happy news for the autumn day: love dies and flesh withers and your nearest and dearest can become your deadliest foe. This, at least, is the set up for Le Week-end, a bitter, biting drama about bitter, biting people; a film that rages against the dying of the light. Lindsay Duncan and Jim Broadbent star as Meg and Nick, a pair of sparring academics whose 30th anniversary hits the buffers as their train pulls into Paris's Gare du Nord. Up ahead we shall find squabbles, misery and the rattling spectre of adultery. "I was always asking for more laughs," Duncan says ruefully. "That didn't get me anywhere."
I meet the actor in a north London cafe,...
- 9/30/2013
- by Xan Brooks
- The Guardian - Film News
If you’ve ever heard high-culture appreciating television viewers lament the fact that Bravo used to air operas while now it airs Andy Cohen, those same folks might be equally disheartened to see this one act play directed by Robert Altman in 1987 for ABC, the network that is now home to 17 seasons of “The Bachelor.” Altman directed a two-part special entitled “Basements,” with both halves being adaptations of English playwright Harold Pinter’s one act plays “The Room” and “The Dumb Waiter.” “The Room” surfaced online recently in the form of a VHS rip, and it’s a thoroughly bizarre 48 minute experience that fans of the celebrated Altman (“Gosford Park,” “The Player,” “M*A*S*H*”) or Pinter (“The Birthday Party,” “The Homecoming,” “Betrayal”) might want to check out. The story centers on a woman (the dimunitive Linda Hunt) living in...
- 2/12/2013
- by Tess Hofmann
- The Playlist
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