"Martha Marcy May Marlene": "Persona" on the Hudson

 Elizabeth Olsen and Sarah Paulson  (cinemascope)

Both writer-director Sean Durkin and star Elizabeth Olsen make impressive debuts in "Martha Marcy May Marelene". The film, a Best Director award winner at Sundance, was subsequently picked up by Fox Searchlight for limited release. 

Hugh Dancy Brings Gravitas to "Big C"

Hugh Dancy and Laura Linney  (s3.sidereel)

Such is the strength of Hugh Dancy's portrayal of a cancer patient on the soon-to-end second season of Showtime's "The Big C" that it is his storyline that has become the centerpiece of this compelling drama, one of television's most accomplished. Like another Showtime series, "Nurse Jackie," "The Big C" is centered around a successful female actor who is over 40 and has earned acclaim for her work in TV in the form of Emmy accolades. The writing is similarly tight and inspired and both women hold the center of their respective lives as working professionals whose lives invite a number of entertaining characters.