Film

Film critic Stephen Schiff credits the success of Beverly Hills Cop II more to its star, Eddie Murphy, than the movie itself -- which doesn't share any of the virtues of its predecessor.

For those who missed the theatrical release, critic Ken Tucker recommends watching the suspense film on home video.

Stephen Schiff thinks everyone involved in the new film Ishtar was going through the motions, including stars Dustin Hoffman and Warren Beatty.

Time Magazine film critic Richard Schickel's new book compiles promotional photographs of film actors that were taken while they were under contract with movie studios -- a publicity model which became obsolete with the advent of television talk shows and the decline of studio contracts.

Stephen Frears directed a new biopic about the life and death of the gay British playwright called Prick Up Your Ears.

Film critic Stephen Schiff believes that the proliferation of film critics on television, whose insights he believes are often superficial, has led moviegoers to believe that emotional manipulation is the sole criterion for great cinema.

Stephen Schiff reviews Prick Up Your Ears, about the relationship between playwright Joe Orton and his partner Ken Halliwell -- which ended in a murder-suicide.

Jill Godmilow's American Playhouse film explores the relationship between the avant-garde writer and her partner Alice Toklas. While much of the plot is invented, Godmilow was careful to stay true to the women's lives.

Language commentator Geoff Nunberg considers why actors adopt foreign or regional accents in film -- and why they sometimes speak in their natural voice, regardless of the part they play.

Novelist William Kennedy and his son Brendan collaborated on a children's book called Charlie Malarkey and the Belly-Button. Despite the elder Kennedy's success as a novelist, the two received a series of rejections before finally getting their work published. Kennedy also talks about his recent work as a screenwriter.