Charlie Kaufman's directorial debut; the ambitious, surreal and expansive Synecdoche, New York, stars Philip Seymour Hoffman as a regional theater director who moves to NYC from Schenectady after his wife Adele (Catherine Keener) leaves him. Using money from a MacArthur fellowship, Caden rents a huge warehouse and spends the next decades directing a never-finished theatrical epic based on his life. Manohla Dargis at the Times loved it (ditto Gothamist): "It’s extravagantly conceptual but also......

Don't feel bad about mangling the pronunciation of Charlie Kaufman's new film, Synecdoche, New York; page three of the press kit is solely dedicated to the title's pronunciation [Sih-NECK-doh-kee] and various meanings, such as "A Part is used for the Whole, as in The Screen for Movies." Though Kaufman wrote such gems as Being John Malkovich and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, this is his directorial debut, and he certainly picked an ambitious project......

Filmmaker Ethan Coen has left his big brother behind and written three short plays all by himself. Called Almost an Evening, the triptych will be produced by the Atlantic Theater Company with a terrific cast that includes Elizabeth Marvel, who was riveting in Ivo van Hove’s unforgettable revival of Hedda Gabler, and Academy Award winner F. Murray Abraham. The plays “unsuccessfully tackle important questions. In Waiting, someone waits somewhere for quite some time. In Four......

New York mid-December always smells vaguely of pine and peppermint, despite our recent springtime temperatures. Bring that cozy holiday feeling with you into the cineplex for a couple of new feel-good holiday movies. Will Smith will tug at your heart strings big time as the struggling dad trying to become a stockbroker in The Pursuit of Happyness. Set in the '70s in San Francisco, Smith plays Chris Gardner, a door to door medical equipment salesman......

Oh, Paul Giamatti... Hollywood may like good acting, but Oscars loves pretty faces better. Gothamist thought that when you didn't get nominated for your role as Pig Vomit in Private Parts, it was because of the whole movie-about-Howard-Stern thing. When you didn't get nominated for American Splendor, we guessed "Maybe Oscar voters don't get indie cartoons." But, now, as your peers in the Actors' Branch of the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences have......

The enigmatic Charlie Kaufman could be one of our most exciting American screenwriters working today, especially in regards to his collaborations with directors Spike Jonze and Michel Gondry. His nebbish charm and wit to spare surely must impress in person, as they do on screen and in interviews. Though knowing Charlie as Gothamist feels we do from his mocking self-portrayals, he'd probably hate to have that much attention and expectation honed in on him by......

Rachel Johnson, Filmmaker...

So far, the work of Charlie Kaufman has only been adapted by two directors: Spike Jonze, with Being John Malkovich and Adaptation, and Michel Gondry, whose Human Nature was tepidly received but has directed the eagerly awaited 2004 release, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. Eternal Sunshine stars Jim Carrey, Kate Winslet, Tom Wilkinson, Kirsten Dunst, Elijah Wood, and Mark Ruffalo, with Carrey as a man trying to erase memories of ex-girlfriend Winslet from his......

While Britain may have limited television options, the BBC has continued to churn out its high quality television adapatations of novels, both classic and contemporary. The current "go-to man" in giving the adaptations a rich life on screen is Andrew Davies, as profiled in the L.A. Times today, in anticipation of tonight's premiere of his adpatation of George Eliot's Daniel Deronda on PBS tonight and tomorrow. What's fascinating about Davies is that he only turned......

Oscar Commentary
Oscar is celebrating its 75th anniversary, I'm celebrating my 25th anniversary of watching Oscar....

The evening is over, while Gothamist will be following up with extensive commentary about the actual Oscar telecast, here are the winners and some post-game analysis: Best Picture: Chicago - Marty Richards Not a huge surprise given the momentum Chicago's had since the Golden Globes, but there was an outside chance of a Pianist upset with The Pianist's acting, directing, and screenplay awards. But in the end, Harvey got his best picture. Best Actor in......

When Terrance Brennan, chef of Picholine and Artisanal, opened Terrance Brennan's Seafood and Chophouse, he started to receive cease and desist letters from Louisianna. From the Brennans of Brennan's in New Orleans. Much like something out of a Charlie Kaufman script, or a David E. Kelley legal drama, the Times reports "that expert witnesses were grilled about the differences between the Creole cuisine of Brennan's in New Orleans and the 'straightforward American food' of......

Finally, an article on the convergence of blogging and Hollywood: Salon.com Technology: Hollyblog. It seems that studios want to control information about a film, to circumvent the Harry Knowles posse from ruining a film (five words: Batman and Robin, Joel Schumacher). Hmm, seems like studios and publicity firms alike will need to be even more guerilla tactics, going beyond plotting stars relationships and goings on - as silly as America's Sweethearts, there is truth to......