Is there a cinematic genre from which less is expected in terms of intelligence, originality or general artistry than the contemporary romantic comedy? OK, not counting porn, snuff films or anything involving Larry the Cable Guy. Here’s a movie form that, in a generation, has devolved from Annie Hall to Fool’s Gold. Can this possibly be good news for anyone besides Kate Hudson?... Read more

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In 2003, a woman named Julie Powell, formerly a disgruntled secretary, pulled off one of the biggest coups in food-writing history. The preceding August, Powell had resolved to cook her way through Julia Child, Simone Beck and Louisette Bertholle’s

Mastering the Art of French Cooking, Volume One — which includes 524 recipes, many complex — in a single year and blog about her progress. TAGS: food, movies

Judd Apatow’s new directorial effort, Funny People, has the potential to be Oscar-winning and cringe-inducing in equal measures. The plot concerns a standup comedian named George Simmons (Adam Sandler) who’s become a mega-star via his roles in bad Adam Sandler-type movies. One day, out of the blue, he discovers he has acute leukemia.... Read more

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Kathryn Bigelow’s latest, which premiered close to a year ago at the Venice Film Festival, has gradually acquired the status of Best Iraq War Movie Anybody’s Made.... Read more

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If aliens watched our coming attractions, they’d get a perplexing view of human courting. In the trailer for (500) Days of Summer, Joseph Gordon Levitt falls madly in love with Zooey Deschanel after she croons along with the Smiths song playing on his iPod, thereby demonstrating both her taste and her romanticism.... Read more

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What a sponging, gene-squandering bunch of artistic slackers the spawn of music superstars tend to be, when you think about it. Oh, sure, John Bonham’s son will sit in for a Led Zeppelin reunion, Zak Starkey will fill in for Keith Moon on a Who tour, and both Lennon boys have endeavored to make a mark. But they are exceptions, not the rule. Consider how many hundreds of others are out there. And how many other art forms, too, are just waiting to be conquered by these carriers of history-making talent.... Read more

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Is there really any reason to review a new Harry Potter movie? Fans of the series have already seen it in droves, then engaged in vociferous online and off-line dissections of the adaptation and the colorful characters and plot twists the filmmakers were forced to omit. Hogwarts haters (if there are any left) will stay home.... Read more

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This year’s Oscars broadcast was short on surprises. No one streaked past the host. Roberto Benigni did not clamber over the seat in front of him and trample A-listers on his way to the podium. In fact, the show’s most shocking moment probably came when it was announced that the award for Best Foreign Language Film would go not to Waltz With Bashir — as had been widely assumed — but to the relatively low-profile Japanese nominee, Departures.... Read more

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High culture keeps rolling into the North Country.... Read more

TAGS: movies, opera, performing arts, state of the arts

“Jerry Springer” and pro wrestling notwithstanding, Americans are not crazy about public conflict. That’s one reason our shores are fertile territory for Sacha Baron Cohen’s comedy. If he tried his provocations in France or Italy — places where verbal altercation has been raised to an art form — he’d probably be deaf from the response.... Read more

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