The director's new movie is a trio of vignettes, each of which explore some aspect of sexuality. It won the top prize at Sundance, but has been called pornographic by many conservative groups.
Film critic Owen Gleiberman reviews the recent video release of "The Last Picture Show," which was first released at the beginning of a new renaissance in American filmmaking. He describes it as Peyton Place directed by Ingmar Bergman.
Rock critic Ken Tucker reviews the singer-songwriter's "Night Ride Home," which he says is a return to the pop sound that marked her great, earlier albums.
Galeano wrote the trilogy, "Memory of Fire," a surrealistic history of the Americas. Galeano comes from Urugua; he fled to Argentina when the dictatorship took over, and later fled Spain. His new book is "The Book of Embraces," and draw from his own life.
Journalist James O'Shea is former chief economic correspondent for The Chicago Tribune. His book, "The Daisy Chain," is a case history of what went wrong with the Savings and Loans in this country. It looks at an S&L in Vernon, Texas owned by Don Dixon who was recently sentenced for defrauding regulators, illegally spending depositors' money, and other misdeeds.
Television critic David Bianculli reviews Paul McCartney's performance on "Unplugged." It's a weekly show on MTV that features rock musicians playing acoustic instruments before a small audience.
Journalist Andrew H. Malcolm's new book, "Someday," is his first-person account of his decision to take his terminally ill mother off life support, a decision made ironic by the fact that Malcom often covers issues of medical ethics and the right to die for the New York Times.
Dorn's in charge of a new series of records on Virgin called Night Records, featuring great live performances. The first four releases feature performances by Rahsaan Roland Kirk, Cannonball Adderley, Les McCann, and Eddie Harris.
Journalist Alex Kotlowitz won the Robert F. Kennedy Journalism Award for a series of articles he wrote for the Wall Street Journal chronicling the lives of two children in a housing project in Chicago. He's expanded those articles into the new book, "There Are No Children Here: The Story of Two Boys Growing Up In the Other America."
Cooper wrote the screenplay for the new movie, "New Jack City," and coined the term, "new jack swing," that inspired the movie's title. Cooper's reporting appears in The Village Voice and Spin.
Jazz critic Kevin Whitehead reviews the musician's new CD, "I Let a Song Go Out of My Heart." Clay was part of the progressive jazz movement in the 50s. Whitehead says the saxophonist's playing has evolved since his days working with Don Cherry.
Tim Weiner reports on national security issues and the justice department for the Philadelphia Inquirer. In 1988, he won his second Pulitzer Prize for a series of articles on secret Pentagon spending. He discusses the A-X weapon - a stealth bomber which has just been put into production. It's predecessor, the A12, was cancelled because of cost overruns and unnaccountability.
Ringgold combines painting and quilt making to create brightly colored and patterned story pictures. She lives in Harlem and teaches half the year at the University of California at San Diego. She's just completed a picture book for children, "Tar Beach," inspired by her story quilt of the same name.
Film critic Stephen Schiff reviews "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Two: The Secret Ooze." He says that, while several elements are borrowed from other movies, it's surprisingly watchable.
Park's short, claymation film, "Creature Comforts," won this year's Oscar for Best Animation. It's a five-minute parody of a documentary in which various zoo animals tell the camera how they feel about their living conditions.
Amy Scholder and Ira Silverberg are the editors of "High Risk," a new anthology of writings that challenge the authors' self-imposed censorship concerning topics like unsafe sex, drug use, and sadomasochism.
