Monthly Archives: September 2007

Ye Olde Steak House: a fond farewell

By Ray Bennett I’ve eaten in a great number of restaurants in my life, good, bad and indifferent, but only two ever captured my heart. One is Dan Tana’s on Santa Monica Boulevard, the most enjoyable dining establishment in Los … Continue reading

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THEATRE REVIEW: Patrick Stewart in ‘Macbeth’

By Ray Bennett LONDON – Seldom can Shakespeare’s murky Scottish tragedy “Macbeth” been have staged with so much clarity and emotional punch as in Rupert Goold’s exhilarating production at London’s Gielgud Theatre. It stars Patrick Stewart in probably the finest performance of … Continue reading

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FILM REVIEW: Julie Taymor’s ‘Across the Universe’

  By Ray Bennett Julie Taymor’s “Across the Universe” is a sparkling treat for anyone with an appreciation of how popular music became the soundtrack for so many people’s lives. That was never so true as in the ’60s when … Continue reading

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FILM REVIEW: George Clooney in ‘Michael Clayton’

By Ray Bennett Tony Gilroy’s gripping thriller “Michael Clayton” starring George Clooney, which previews in the U.K. today and opens Friday, is the writer turned director’s second topnotch film in 2007. Paul Greengrass directed Gilroy’s script for the hugely entertaining … Continue reading

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TV REVIEW: Billie Piper in ‘The Secret Diary of a Call Girl’

By Ray Bennett Chrissy Skinns, producer of the new Billie Piper series “Secret Diary of a Call Girl,” which debuts tonight on ITV2, insists that the show’s depiction of prostitution as something fun, glamorous and relatively carefree is an accurate one. In … Continue reading

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BOOKS: On surviving icepicks in the brain: ‘My Lobotomy’

By Ray Bennett Charles Fleming, journalist, novelist and one of my very best of friends, has a new book out titled “My Lobotomy” written with a man named Howard Dully who underwent the most hideous surgery you can imagine when … Continue reading

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THEATRE REVIEW: ‘Parade’ at the Donmar Warehouse

By Ray Bennett LONDON – Tony-winning choreographer Rob Ashford’s Donmar Warehouse revival of the 1998 American musical “Parade,” which is based on the notorious 1913 murder trial of Leo Frank, is an enthralling testament to the wisdom of revisiting strong … Continue reading

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FILM REVIEW: Jodie Foster in Neil Jordan’s ‘The Brave One’

By Ray Bennett Director Neil Jordan says that “The Brave One” is a vigilante story that he shot as a horror film. Jodie Foster plays an intelligent woman who discovers that she is capable not only of wreaking violence on … Continue reading

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Intense questions in 'A Mighty Heart'

Angelina Jolie with Dan Futterman as Daniel Pearl in ‘A Mighty Heart’ Michael Winterbottom’s searing new docudrama “A Mighty Heart,” a dramatization of the frantic hunt for American reporter Daniel Pearl, who was kidnapped in Pakistan and later murdered, did … Continue reading

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Recalling … lunch with Richard Jaeckel in Detroit

By Ray Bennett The London Chop House in Detroit, Michigan, was a favorite spot for celebrity interviews on the publicity circuit, which was how I came to share a table one day in 1973 with Jo Don Baker and Richard … Continue reading

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