At one point, animated paterfamilias Homer Simpson asks if audiences are going to pay to see a movie with characters and stories they could just as easily see on commercially saturated television.  

The voice on the other end of the phone cackles. It might be the most famous laugh in all of television -- if not pop culture -- history. Young. Mischievous. Utterly Bart. "This is awesome," he  

Editor's Note: CityBeat asked local filmmaker Kendall Bruns to keep a diary during this year's 48 Hour Film Festival. This is his report. This was Pizza Infinity's third year participating i  

Dieter Dengler wanted to fly -- nothing more, nothing less. The dream first materialized when he was a young child living through World War II air raids on his small Bavarian village. During one  

Good spirits, great songs and casting smarts -- mixing relaxed Hollywood veterans who love the material with young newcomers full of energy -- make Hairspray a summer movie pleasure. After watchi  

Since director John Dahl's early successes in neo-noir -- Kill Me Again, Red Rock West and the brilliant The Last Seduction -- it feels as if he disappeared off the radar, especially in the wake   

Hollywood has figured out two ways to get people excited about movies. In winter, from the holiday season until February, it promotes good movies -- often quirky, challenging indies or releases   

In concerts, singer-songwriter Jeff Buckley used to self-depricatingly announce that he was going to play "another twisted love song" in a set that included titles like "Last Goodbye" and "L  

Hugh Dancy is not a household name in America. But that's likely to change: The 32-year-old British-born actor has three movies coming out this year. Then there's his burgeoning, tabloid-hounded  

Michael Moore's knack for framing political and social issues in a surprisingly entertaining documentary format is a journalistic phenomenon that picks up where '60s- and '70s-era activist fi  

Music biopics invariably come in for condescension in some critical quarters -- celluloid "greatest hits" albums, they often are called. I disagree. There are few movie thrills as satisfying as   

Michael Winterbottom has directed one movie a year for more than a decade, but there are few people on this side of the pond who could name them. It's not that he's a bad director. In fact, he  

Music, as much as love, makes the world go around. Once, a new film from Ireland, shows just how important music is to the lives, dreams and ambitions of Dubliners. But because the Pop music of Ir  

Almost five years ago, a screener tape of Gasper Noe's Irreversible landed in my year-end review pile. The film was set to play at The Esquire at some undefined point, a decision I found highly   

Susanne Bier, director of After the Wedding, has been one of the luminaries of Denmark's Dogme movement -- films grounded in real-life concerns featuring naturalistic acting and as little produc