There's just something about Lisbeth Salander, the brilliant hacker who's the central character in Stieg Larsson's Millennium trilogy. Although the author never lived to see his books in print, he might have been amazed at how the world has become obsessed with his rather unique protagonist. Lisbeth is a genius, quite possibly on the autism spectrum, bisexual, heavily body modded, and defiantly self-reliant. She takes swift and brutal ... Read More

Pariah is the coming-of-age and coming-out story of seventeen-year-old Alike, played by Adepero Oduye, a former pred-med student turned actress. Alike is caught between worlds; she lives in a nice brownstone in Fort Greene, Brooklyn, where her parents are in deep denial about their daughter's lesbian identity. Mom Audrey (Kim Wayans) wants her to dress more like a nice girl who goes to church on Sunday, while her dad Arthur (Charles ... Read More

  The word being tossed around in relation to Kristen Wiig's star-making new comedy Bridesmaids is womance, and the portmanteau is somewhat apt but not entirely fair. Writers love a good pun or, better yet, a tidy way to label something, especially if it's a new sort of thing that we don't know quite how to handle, which, in a way, Bridesmaids is. Bridesmaids is not quite a chick flick, although it was written by Wiig and Annie Mumolo ... Read More

Lars von Trier, the director who so famously tormented Bjork in Dancer in the Dark that she swore she'd quit acting forever, was booed and jeered at at Cannes for Antichrist. People even laughed at the private screening I attended with some of my fellow BUSTies. Antichrist has been censured as misogynist, and, to a lesser extent, as if somehow this is a lesser crime, pretentiously laughable. And while, yes, I did laugh at some over von ... Read More

So at long last, Where the Wild Things Are is opening today, after months of teasing trailers that have brought grown men to tears, online clips of Spike Jonze adorably romping with children behind the scenes, and clothing lines at Urban Outfitters and Opening Ceremony. Warner Bros. took a big chance on an indie director known for his music videos and his feature films Being John Malkovich and Adaptation. It was a big gamble on to trust ... Read More