Film critic David Edelstein reviews Cinderella Man, starring Russell Crowe and directed by Ron Howard. Edelstein says he fell for the shmaltzy flick, "a three-hanky weeper."
Twenty-eight years ago, Mary Clarke left her life as a wealthy divorced mother of seven in Beverly Hills to live and work in a notorious Mexican prison. She became Mother Antonia; Pulitzer-winning authors Mary Jordan and Kevin Sullivan have written about her story.
Tim Winter is executive director of the Parents Television Council, a watchdog group that speaks out against sex, violence, and profanity in the media.
As a columnist for The New York Times, Frank Rich writes about the intersection of culture and news. His pieces -- often touching on politics, religion and the arts -- are a fixture of the paper's Sunday editions.
Social historian Stephanie Coontz's new book is Marriage, a History: from Obedience to Intimacy, or How Love Conquered Marriage. The historical review of wedlock reveals an institution that has adapted over centuries — but faces new crises today.
Academy Award-winning film editor Thelma Schoonmaker has edited every one of Martin Scorsese's movies, from Raging Bull to The Aviator. Schoonmaker has had a front-row seat to see how film editing has changed over the past 30 years.
Comic Tom Kenny is the voice of SpongeBob SquarePants, Nickelodeon's animated star of television and lately the movies, too. The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie is now out on DVD. Originally broadcast on Nov. 16, 2004.
Peralta wrote and acts in the new movie 'Lords of Dogtown'. The feature evolved from Peralta's 2002 documentary 'Dogtown and Z-Boys.' Both films are about the community of skateboarders in California in the 1970s who originated extreme skateboarding.
Film critic David Edelstein reviews Mad Hot Ballroom, a new documentary about 11-year-old kids who compete in a New York City ballroom dance competition.
Political scientist Jonathan Oberlander is an expert on health politics and policy. He is an associate professor of social medicine at the University of North Carolina. He is the author of the book The Political Life of Medicare. His articles and opinion pieces have appeared in Health Affairs, Journal of Health Politics, Policy and Law, The Washington Post and The Los Angeles Times.
Film producer Ismail Merchant died Wednesday at age 68. In conjunction with James Ivory, he produced A Room With a View (1985), Howards End (1992) and other films. Their newest film, Heights, hits theaters in June. (Original airdate: 9/10/87)
The new novel Thirty-Three Swoons by Martha Cooley is a detailed intrigue set in Manhattan, interweaving the worlds of theatre and the perfume industry. Cooley's previous work includes The Archivist. Book critic Maureen Corrigan has a review.
Surgeon and medical historian Ira Rutkow's new book is Bleeding Blue and Gray: Civil War Surgery and the Evolution of American Medicine. Rutkow is also the author of Surgery: An Illustrated History, which was a New York Times Notable Book of the Year.
Director Gregg Araki and novelist Scott Heim have collaborated on the new film Mysterious Skin, based on Heim's novel of the same name. It's the story of two young men who were sexually molested as boys, and the different ways in which trauma has shaped their lives.
As May draws to a close, fans of some of television's biggest shows -- American Idol, CSI, Desperate Housewives, among others -- are being treated to season-ending finales. At the same time, TV is testing the waters for its fall season.
It has been an eventful 11 days in Cannes, France, where the annual Cannes Film Festival wrapped up over the weekend. One surprise was first-time director Tommy Lee Jones, whose The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada won him top honors as best actor. The festival also included early showings of Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith.
Journalist David Kirkpatrick covers Congress for The New York Times. As part of a series on class issues for the paper, he co-authored a story on the increase of evangelical Christians on Ivy League campuses. The article was published in the Sunday, May 22, edition.
Rev. Thomas Breidenthal is dean of religious life at Princeton University. Breidenthal is a scholar, teacher and Episcopal priest. He is the author of the 1997 book Christian Households: The Sanctification of Nearness.
Matt Bennett is the founder of Christian Union, an organization of evangelicals at Ivy League schools whose goal is to reach those who will go on to become part of America's academic elite. The group operates ministry centers at Brown, Cornell and Princeton universities. Bennett, a graduate of Cornell, founded the organization in 2002. Rachel Blair is a student at Princeton and is a member of Christian Union.
