J. Remington

"Thou Shalt Not Bear False Witness Against Thy Neighbor", Jun 12 2004

Lillian Hellman's magnificent, heart-wrenching, ground breaking and beautiful 1934 play takes the aforementioned commandment and creates a stunning cautionary tale that is not for the weak of heart. The perniciousness of lying and the often tragic consequences therein form the spine of this, Hellman's first major success on the Broadway stage.

Concerning a scandal at a private girl's school, Hellman bravely dramatizes the scars and cycles of abuse which result not only from lying but also from ignorance and cowardice. As I prepare this script for production in the fall of 2004, I find its themes timeless and as hard hitting as any contemporary work.

In Mary Tilford, Hellman has created… Read more

Despite its flaws, a good film well worth watching, Jun 12 2004

I got a little lost along the way
But it's just around the corner to the light of day
-Bruce Springsteen

Coming from a bloodline rife with storytellers, BIG FISH'S concept had me, to quote JERRY MAGUIRE, at hello.

Director Tim Burton's latest film dramatizes the efforts of an adult son (Billy Crudup) desperately trying to find the smallest tile of fact in his dying father's (the always excellent Albert Finney as raconteur extraordinaire Edward Bloom) exaggerated life mosaic.

As with all of Burton's films, image, mood, atmosphere and flights of fancy weigh far more importantly than honest human connection or cohesive narrative. The film often loses itself in Edward Bloom's… Read more

A call for skilled, complex, and eclectic thought, Jan 19 2004

Granted, attacking contemporary America's cultural love for the debased, the self-indulgent extreme, the hapless and unskilled mediocrity as well as the insipid cults that have risen around exhalting the helpless victim, nurturing the stunted "inner child" and bandaging the wounded self-esteem seems too obvious.

Fortunately TIME Magazine Art Critic and writer extraordinaire Robert Hughes laces his acid-dripping pen with adroit observations and incredible verbal acrobatics in an all-out attack that provides hints of solutions and actual celebrations of all that is good in America.

Hughes pulls no punches and spares no prisoners as he lambasts (always with great aplomb and wit) extremism… Read more