Arts & Entertainment

“Snitch — Informants, Cooperators & the Corruption of Justice” By Ethan Brown

Reviewed by Joe Antol

Historically, drug prosecution has been a local affair. But former U.S. Attorney Rudy Giuliani started to pursue drug cases on the Lower East Side of Manhattan in the early 1980s. Federal agents would choose dates, without notice, to arrest and prosecute low-level drug dealers in federal court where they would receive sentences of years, rather than months as would be meted out in state court. While a signature accomplishment for Giuliani, the actual success of the program is suspect and some in law enforcement saw it as nothing more than a grab for headlines, so much so it was nicknamed “Giuliani Day.”

John Flansburgh (left in photo) and John Linnell of They Might Be Giants are having a bit of an identity crisis. Three days after playing a “bone-crushingly loud” show at the Beacon Theatre, the alt-rock veterans release “Here Come the 123s,” their latest children’s record. Flansburgh talked to the Resident about the challenges that come with this split-personality success. — Heather Corcoran

By Rory Winston

Istvan Szabo’s “Mephisto” (1981) told a Faust-like story about an actor who eventually sells his soul to the Nazi regime: he agrees to entertain the murderers for the price of fame. Soon, he goes from simple opportunism — and just wanting to get by — to becoming an active and inspirational participant for the killing machine. Sadly, such stories are not only metaphors. Though right and wrong may often be hard to distinguish, the Holocaust is a gray zone where the need to survive and overt complicity often become hard to distinguish.

By Susan Shapiro

When Ian Frazier, a mentor I’d met working as a peon at the New Yorker, asked me to teach a writer’s workshop with him at Holy Apostles soup kitchen, it sounded like an odd place for a nice Jewish atheist. Yet when in doubt, emulate those you admire. So in March of 1994, we made a plan to meet at the Chelsea Episcopal church that housed Manhattan’s largest soup kitchen, feeding 1,300 people lunch daily.

‘Cloverfield’ for YouTube crowd

By Christy Lemire

The trailer, with its image of the Statue of Liberty’s severed head bouncing down a Manhattan street, created huge buzz online and at Comic-Con.

A Growing Global Venue for US Stand-up Comics
By Rory Winston

In the mid-70’s, comedian Robert Klein in a set recalled how frustrating it was to watch early

‘Bucket List’ Survives Gimmicks
By David Germain

Facing terminal illness, we all should get to experience a no-costs-barred world tour to do everything we ever wanted.

By Christy Lemire

“Charlie Wilson’s War,” a crisp, biting satire that confidently mixes sex and politics, glides along so smartly and smoothly, it makes you wonder how it’s possible that director Mike Nichols and writer Aaron Sorkin never teamed up before.

By Cotton Delo

Wearing a white turtleneck sweater and black rectangle-rimmed glasses, Andre Royo works his way through a grilled chicken sandwich platter at Jane on Houston Street. He says he wants to wear a suit and tie in his next gig as an actor. But even in nice clothes, without enamel to black out his teeth and cosmetic scabs and blemishes to lend his now-clean-shaven face the raw, hungry look of a junkie, he’s instantly recognizable to fans of “The Wire.”

After 25 years in Hollywood, Forest Whitaker is finally getting top billing. In the last 12 months, he has picked up an Oscar for his gripping portrayal of Ugandan dictator Idi Amin and a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. He caps the year with "The Great Debaters," which opened Dec. 25. An all-star collaboration, the film was directed by and co-stars Denzel Washington and produced by Oprah Winfrey's Harpo Productions. It's already caught a lot of buzz, including a Golden Globe nomination for Best Picture, despite mixed reviews. As James Farmer, Whitaker dons a Southern accent in the (somewhat) true story of a champion debate team from Wiley College, a small, historically black institution in rural Texas. Farmer is the father of a student who joins Wiley, which is led by the charismatic and polarizing poet Melvin Tolson (Washington). At first, Farmer is skeptical of the radical teacher who leads the team, but as the Wiley debaters rack up victories, he starts to change his mind. After the movie ends, the real-life James Farmer, Jr., goes on to become a leader in the civil rights movement. Set against the backdrop of the Great Depression and the Jim Crow South, the 1935 Wiley debate team caps the film with a victory against Harvard, a match that, in real life, pitted Wiley against the University of Southern California. Some critics have said that the film plays into feel-good movie formulas, yet somehow, the cast manages to rise above the cliches of an Oprah-approved historical drama.