Tribeca Film Festival

Joshua Seftel's
War Inc.
2008 Tribeca Film Festival
April 23 - May 4, 2008

Starring: John Cusack; Marisa Tomei; Hilary Duff; and Dan Aykroyd.

Reviewed by Noelle Ashley

War Inc. sold out for all three of its screenings at the 2008 Tribeca Film Festival. Comedy is war and war is comedy in this smart and startling film, which stars John Cusack and Marisa Tomei. Written by John Cusack, Jeremy Pisker and Mark Leyner, the script satirizes the profitability of the war, the military's privatization and global commercialization, with memorably funny scenes as the former Vice President (Dan Aykroyd) has his private company take over a war-torn nation and hires a hit man to kill the competition.

The film makes a striking mockery of not only the government's spin on war, but also the treatment of women. Hilary Duff proves her acting talent in a comically brilliant role as Yonica Babbyyeah, teen heartthrob to all of Turaqi. Babbyyeah gyrates in dance videos to "I Want To Blow You Up" and "Boom, Boom, Bang, Bang, there's a war going on," lyrics that merged politics with pop.

Since their society values women for their virginity, Babbyyeah's fiancé has a money-making scheme that takes capitalism to a whole new level: videotaping their honeymoon night so the girl's first time can be purchased by millions. One ludicrous scene is available to YouTube fans who can download clips of her getting sexy with a scorpion.

War Inc. was filmed in Bulgaria, which had its advantages. The crew consisted of mostly Bulgarian locals and, on a budget of less than $10 million, director Joshua Seftel pulled off explosion scenes resembling a $60-$80 million film.

With fast-moving dialogue and parodies of politicians such as Dick Cheney, War Inc. received early buzz for achieving a laugh-out-loud political satire in a feature film.

War Inc. opens on May 23, 2008.

Tribeca Film Festival: The Wackness

Mary-Kate Olsen and Ben Kingsley
in The Wackness

Jonathan Levine's The Wackness
2008 Tribeca Film Festival
April 23 - May 4, 2008

Reviewed by Noelle Ashley

Sometimes a shrink saves his patient's life. Sometimes it's the other way around.

One of the more celebrated movies screened at the Tribeca Film Festival is The Wackness, a term referring to "the glass half empty."

Set in New York City in the hot, sticky months of 1994, it is a moving and witty story of a humorous therapist (Ben Kingsley) who needs even more help than the patient.

Drugs in a doctor's office are usually doled out by the psychiatrist, not a troubled teen. Now meet Luke (Josh Peck), who pays for doctor visits with the currency of weed. Luke, a likable 18-year-old from a dysfunctional family, forms a unique bond with Dr. Squires. Although their ages could make them father and son, their friendship resembles more of a brotherhood.

The two males stray even farther from the typical doctor-patient relationship as they set out on a quest for sex, drugs and money. Dealing drugs is Luke's source of income the summer before college. It's also one way to meet girls.

Union (Mary-Kate Olsen) is a luminous blonde who hangs out in Central Park and past-their-prime bars where she can make fun of "creepy old people." Dr. Squires takes a liking to her, for a few minutes at least. Luke, however, can only think about one girl: Stephanie (Olivia Thirlby), his first love. She is an 18-year-old brunette who speaks in the language of slang and smokes cigarettes while her family fights. Yelling parents is a steady backdrop in both their lives, but Stephanie and Luke escape their problems one chemistry-filled weekend on Fire Island.

Ironically, Stephanie is Dr. Squires' daughter -- or step-daughter, as Luke reminds him.

The plot builds as a coming-of-age, character-driven picture that captures the spirit and the music of city kids in the '90s. The language of teenagers weaves into the dialogue, which flows to the beat of the soundtrack i.e., A Tribe Called Quest, Notorious B.I.G., Method Man, Raekwon and The Wu-Tang Clan. The audience is brought back to '94 as the characters talk about Mayor Giuliani cracking down on crime in New York. It was a time of pagers, before cell phones and laptops became ubiquitous, and a time when M.D.s still hesitated before prescribing medication for depression. In fact, Luke has to beg and plead and finally says, "Just give me the happy pills." Although he never gets his hands on legal drugs, he has plenty of the other kind, and he shares it all with Dr. Squires, who takes enough over-the-counter pills for both of them. These kind of character flaws elicited laughs from the audience.

The theme of youth emanates around the innocence of Luke. Despite his drug dealing, he is just like any other kid trying to figure out life and love.

After the film, the audience is left with the image on the movie's poster: Luke walking around with marijuana tucked away in its hiding place as he and Dr. Squires wheel around an ice cart. As the movie's tagline reads, "Sometimes it's right to do the wrong things."

Written and directed by Jonathan Levine, The Wackness is the winner of the Sundance Film Festival 2008 Audience Award (Dramatic). Its nomination for the Sundance Grand Jury Prize shows that this film could be more than a cult hit.

Acquired by Sony Pictures Classics, The Wackness comes out in cinemas July 3, 2008.

John Travolta & James Gandolfini

Published in New York Cool - Read the entire article here

By Noelle Ashley (Saturday, April 29, 2006)

It started with the encyclopedia of crime.

Writer and director Todd Robinson flipped through accounts of robberies and kidnappings only to find a case where his own grandfather made the arrests. Stories had floated around his family for years. Now, with the help of actors John Travolta, James Gandolfini, Salma Hayek and Jared Leto, he presents the crime thriller Lonely Hearts, a film about two real-life detectives who chased America's notorious “Lonely Hearts Killers." The Killers, Martha Beck (played by Salma Hayek) and Raymond Martinez Fernandez (played by Jared Leto), earned their nickname from using personal ads to swindle and murder women. Travolta and Gandolfini play the two homicide detectives who track them down.

Travolta wore a black suit and striped tie but Gandolfini walked into the room in a short-sleeved shirt. The two men obviously have different ideas about the dress code for a press conference. But after doing four films together, including Get Shorty, A Civil Action and She's So Lovely, they are close friends. Putting their arms around each other, they joked around about the love between them.

One of the first scenes they filmed together involved a fight. “He’s a hell of a lot stronger that I ever thought he’d be,” the 45-year-old Gandolfini said of Travolta, age 52. “He really knocked me around.”

The star of the Sopranos compared playing a cop to playing a mobster. When he leaned into the microphone and said, “It’s the same,” the audience laughed. “They’re all strong men, except one is trying to do the right thing. Both try to get men to do what they want.”

“This part was kind of a sidekick to him,” Gandolfini said, nodding at Travolta. “For once, I’m not the guy losing his temper all the time.”

Published in New York Cool - Read the entire article here

Vanity Fair Party

Published in "New York Cool About Town" - Click here to read the article
April 26, 2006
Written by Noelle Ashley
Photographed by Marlo Clemente

(Photographed: Ed Burns and Christy Turlington)


From Robert De Niro to Jerry Seinfeld, stars of the entertainment field walked a new kind of red carpet: one laid down a long flight of stairs. That's due to the venue of the 2006 Tribeca Film Festival's Vanity Fair party: the New York State Supreme Courthouse at 60 Centre Street and Pearl Street.

Hundreds of candles lined the courthouse steps. Beneath the American flag and the architectural wonders of statues, columns and moldings, the words VANITY FAIR were carved in huge, red block letters above a sign reading, "Tribeca Film Festival."


(Photographed: David Duchovny)

(Photographed: William Dafoe and Giada Colagrande)
The award for best-looking couple goes to Ed Burns and Christy Turlington. Burns, who has a film to promote, said, "It was a no-brainer to come out tonight." When asked what fans yell out these days when they see him on the street, Burns joked, "What fans? Have you seen the box-office returns of my last couple movies?"
Turlington laughed and then praised his new film, The Groomsmen.


(Photographed: Mr. and Mrs. Regis Philbin; Patty Smyth and John McEnroe)
Iman and David Bowie were another glamorous duo. The parade of guests included David Duchovny, Jeff Goldblum, Russell Simmons, Fran Liebowitz, Damon Dash and Harvey Weinstein.
Designers Carolina Herrera and Diane von Furstenberg joined the party, as did television stars Barbara Walters and Regis.
Tennis champion John McEnroe came to support the festival. He graciously stopped and answered questions. "De Niro is a quiet, behind-the-scenes guy who stepped up to the plate," he said. "There's more to [the festival] than just seeing a movie."

Click here to read the article, published in "New York Cool About Town"