Richard Price, David Levien, and Brian Koppelman Talk Screenwriting At The Montclair Film Festival

May 9th, 2012 by Chris McEwen

What makes a good screenplay? Or, perhaps more importantly, how do you even go about putting one together?

In a conversation that freely flowed from stories about Paul Newman (“Fellas, have you ever had a grapefruit in the shower?” he allegedly asked at an early Color of Money script meeting) to Sasha Grey, the talk always seemed to return to some iteration of those two above questions.

Yet at the recent Montclair Film Festival screenwriting panel– moderated by AMC executive Joel Stillerman, and featuring Richard Price (Clockers, The Color of Money) and screenwriting duo Brian Koppelman and David Levien (Rounders, Ocean’s Thirteen), all participants decidedly veered away from evangelizing about the rules of the craft. Read more…


A Lifelong Progression Of Wearing Backpacks

May 7th, 2012 by Lizzie Azran

Ever since you stepped out of the house for the first day of kindergarten, the concept of wearing a backpack has become almost as subconscious as school itself. For a quarter-century of our lives, backpacks play the role of that imperative “extra limb” – to save our biological ones from the pain of carrying books and binders.

But backpacks are one of the more flexible limbs. Throughout the years our taste in style, color and dignity to wear a satchel or rolling backpack has been ever-changing. Yet, finding and wearing your version of a perfect backpack has become an unmentioned social staple – unless you wear said satchel or rolling backpack, because then you may have been teased. But no shame there. Read more…


What We Saw At This Year’s Tribeca Film Festival

May 1st, 2012 by Chris McEwen

We didn’t see everything at this year’s Tribeca Film Festival – far from it; we even got screwed over on the rush tickets line for Take This Waltz. But while it wasn’t all great, what we did see offered us a nice cross-section of what this year’s festival had to offer: action, comedy, even lesbian werewolves. And with that, here’s what we managed to catch this year at Tribeca:

Jack and Diane

We’re thinking what you’re thinking – how could they have possibly have screwed up the lesbian werewolf movie? Alas, with a clunky central metaphor that equates lycanthropy to the hysteria of young love, a tone that awkwardly wavers between bizarrely broad mumblecore farce and C-movie jolts, and a lack of any compelling narrative momentum, Jack and Diane is unable to live up to its high concept promise.

Read more…


NYU Local’s Summer Movie Guide

April 26th, 2012 by Chris McEwen

What are your summer plans? Do you have a job? (Hah, jokes.) A credit internship, maybe? Do you have plans to go somewhere lovely, foreign, and preferably with a beach? Or are you gonna be like us, and sit around watching some cool new movies in air conditioned theaters all day? In that case, here’s our guide to the movies coming out this summer that we’re most looking forward too.

The Avengers (May 4th)

This shouldn’t work. A movie of this scope, with this many lead (superheroic) characters shouldn’t be feasible. But they did it – they properly laid the groundwork with a series of generally strong Marvel movies, and they got the right cast, and more importantly, the right director to bring it all together. No matter what, we’ll be there to see how it turns out, and we’ll be willing to forgive Iron Man 2 if it does so well. Read more…


Don’t Trust the B in Apt 23 Is Actually Good, We Promise!

April 25th, 2012 by Alex Bedder

Your roommate had sex with your fiance, on your birthday… cake. That’s the central comedic bit in ABC’s new show Don’t Trust the B in Apartment 23, but the new series offers a lot more than just this devious sight gag. In fact the entire sitcom is surprisingly successful in its composition, defying the expectations of mediocrity that might have spurred from advertisements and the overall lack of hype. Regardless of your low expectations for these opening episodes, the show has so far proven that it has its own quirky merits worth watching.

The series follows June, a naive Midwestern transplant who stumbles in the snare of Chloe, her new con artist roomie who lies, manipulates and steals, but often with the best of intentions. Chloe is also best friends with former Dawson Creek actor James Van Der Beek, who takes self deprecation to a new level by playing over-the-top, with a side of extra douchebaggery caricature of himself. Because that makes sense. But in the reality of Apt 23,  the Van Der Creek name drop completely fits, and is easily incorporated in a show where every moment has a need to top the last. Read more…


Tribeca Film Festival For The Frugal: Five Things To Do That Don’t Require Tickets

April 25th, 2012 by Florence Madenga

Tribeca Film Festival season is upon us, and with it comes over 200 screenings: exciting independent films like “2 Days in New York” by Julie Delpy, “Searching for Sugar Man” by Malik Bendjelloul (which already wowed audiences at the Sundance festival), and even more James Franco, whose new film “Francophrenia” premiered  this Sunday at the  festival.

However, the excitement is dampened a bit by the ticket prices, which run from  $8 to $25, and the  long lines in front of cinemas. But you don’t have to wait in line or deplete your student budget to enjoy the festival–there are still plenty of things you could do without spending a dime.  Read more…


Tuesday Track: “A Simple Man” — Action Bronson

April 24th, 2012 by Max Schieble


Action Bronson’s “A Simple Man” was just released, and it begins with the rapper stating that he’s not changing, a comment that directly correlates to a recent morning rant about “haters” wanting him to change.

Read more…


Young Media Weekend Panelists Confront The Old Rules Of New Media Journalism

April 23rd, 2012 by Chris McEwen

“I just think my entire career, whatever I have left of it, will be teaching people the Internet.”

The New York Times’ Amy O’Leary threw that line out in jest at the general panel during this recent Young Media Weekend, yet it set the tone for much of the free-flowing conversation that both preceded and followed it. The topics of said conversation jumped around -from the importance of maintaining a social media presence, to the great generational problem of interns, but the afternoon’s chatter consistently returned to the notion of what being a journalist really entails, specifically in a modern context. Read more…


Harrison Ford Waxes His Chest Hair And Other Dumb Ways Celebs Go Green

April 20th, 2012 by Melissa Cronin

If there is one thing that a celebrity wants, it’s for people to think he/she is a good, philanthropic charitable person. One of the best ways they can do this, it seems, is by demonstrating care about the environment.

Celebrities from Alicia Silverstone to John Travolta have “gone green” by various means lately, and some more authentically than others. Here’s a roundup of the greenest (and faux-greenest) celebs:

Alicia Silverstone: If you haven’t had enough of the former Clueless star and her horrifying parenting skills, here’s a little more: The actress behind Cher Horowitz’s dramatic love story launched her website The Kind Life in 2009, accompanied by her vegan guide, The Kind Diet. Silverstone has also found ways to make strides for animal rights activism – she appeared nude in a PETA commercial, then named her son Bear Blu. Apparently, she’s not just “a ditz with a credit card.”  Read more…


Dear NYU, Please Host A Party Weekend Like These Other Colleges

April 20th, 2012 by Lizzie Azran

It remains a mystery why NYU does not provide students with a party weekend. We are forced to travel to foreign lands to attend other university-organized spring weekends filled with concerts, day carnivals and debauchery with fellow classmates. Sorry, Program Board, but the gluttonous Strawberry Festival doesn’t count – it’s way too innocent.

But really, we’ve hardly dabbled in the newly-renovated Washington Square Park. It needs some shaking up, some vibrant energy from thousands of students at once, some more history!

Until then, students must feign the concept of becoming a frat bro/party girl at other colleges, which host annual springtime festivities devoid of city life. And on certain weekends at certain colleges, sometimes that lifestyle can be pretty fun. If you want to escape the city for one last weekend before finals week vacuums your soul, or if you want to celebrate the end of the semester with keg stands and blackouts, then call up your high school friends who go to these colleges and awkwardly ask to stay with them for their schools’ crazy party weekends. Read more…


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