The best humor catches us off-guard, leaving us a little confused and disconcerted. Generating those kind of laughs is serious business, and that is what so admirable about the agile dark comedy Welcome to Me. Kristen Wiig plays Alice Klieg, a woman who tells us she is suffering from Borderline Personality Disorder. Alice is needy, insecure, and angry at everything. She wins 86 million dollars in the lottery. The cash gives her the opportunity to realize her greatest dream — to create her own TV show, inspired by her hero, Oprah. 
This is not a glamorous role and Wiig never resorts to shtick or mugging. And it is her committed performance, along with director Shira Piven’s skill at comic timing, that grounds the film’s absurd premise. Peter Sellers gave a similar eerily neutral performance as Chauncey Gardiner MORE . . . 

In the music business of the 1950’s and ’60s, A&R (Artist and Repertoire) men helped great artists find and maintain their creative stride. Early examples include Ahmet Ertegun, Jerry Wexler, and John Hammond. With the British rock invasion, many of best bands were strengthened by the intersection of talent and astute management: Brian Epstein and the early Beatles, Andrew Loog Oldham and the Rolling Stones, and later Malcolm Mclaren and the Sex Pistols. Other examples include Albert Grossman (Dylan, Odetta), Robert Stigwood (Cream, BeeGees) and Peter Grant (Led Zeppelin). 

Lesser known are the duo of ‘Kit’ Lambert and Chris Stamp, who are the subjects of a new film entitled Lambert & Stamp. Initially working as filmmakers, their intention was to document, cinema vérité style, the formation and evolution of a rock band that they themselves would nurture and direct. The film was never realized, but their smarts turned what began as a kind of art project into a global phenomenon. They even renamed the band: The High Numbers became The Who.
I spoke with director James D. Cooper  READ MORE