HOTEL PORTOFINO: Actress Natascha McElhone on Season 3 of the PBS drama – Exclusive Interview

By ABBIE BERNSTEIN 08/14/2024
HOTEL PORTOFINO key art | ©2024 PBS

HOTEL PORTOFINO is now in its third season Sunday nights on PBS’s MASTERPIECE THEATRE. Created by Matt Baker, HOTEL PORTOFINO is set in 1920s Italy at the title establishment. The hotel is managed by Englishwoman Bella Ainsworth, played by Natascha McElhone, although it technically belongs to her husband Cecil (Mark Umbers). Bella and Cecil have been married for thirty years, have two living children and one deceased. Bella pours her heart and soul into the hotel; Cecil sees it only as a source of income. By Season 3, Bella would like nothing more than to get Cecil out of her […]Read On »


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Movie Review: THE IMAGINARY (YANEURA NO RAJÂ)

By ABBIE BERNSTEIN 07/05/2024
THE IMAGINARY (YANEURA NO RAJÂ) movie poster | ©2024 Netflix

Rating: PG Stars (voices, Japanese-language cast): Kokoro Terada, Rio Suzuki, Sakura Andô, Riisa Naka, Takayuki Yamada, Atsuko Takahata, Issei Ogata, Akira Terao, Hana Sugisaki, Teiyû Ichiryûsai; (voices, English-language cast): Louie Rudge-Buchanan, Evie Kiszel, Hayley Atwell, Sky Katz, Jeremy Swift, Kal Penn, LeVar Burton, Jane Singer, Ruby Barnhill, Roger Craig Smith, Courtenay Taylor, Miles Nibbe Writer: Yoshiaki Nishimura, based on the novel written by A.F. Harrold and illustrated by Emily Gravett Director: Yoshiyuki Momose Distributor: Netflix Release Date: June 28, 2024 (theatrical); July 5, 2024 (Netflix) Not to be confused with the live-action horror film IMAGINARY released earlier this year, THE […]Read On »


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Movie Review: SMILE

By ABBIE BERNSTEIN 09/30/2022
SMILE movie poster | ©2022 Paramount Pictures

Rating: R Stars: Sosie Bacon, Jessie T. Usher, Kyle Gallner, Caitlin Stasey, Robin Weigert, Kal Penn, Judy Reyes, Gillian Zinser, Dora Kiss Writer: Parker Finn Director: Parker Finn Distributor: Paramount Release Date: September 30, 2022 SMILE is a horror movie in a specific subgenre that has given rise to a variety of different individual films and film franchises, mainly in the U.S. and in Japan. There is nothing in the least wrong with this subgenre – done right, they work like gangbusters and frighten the living whatever out of people.But there are a few things that this, or any, horror […]Read On »


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SUNNYSIDE: Diana Maria Riva chats about the new NBC comedy – Exclusive Interview

By ABBIE BERNSTEIN 10/17/2019
Diana Maria Riva as Griselda in SUNNYSIDE - Season 1 | ©2019 NBC/F. Scott Schafer

In NBC’s freshman Thursday-night comedy SUNNYSIDE, Kal Penn, who co-created the series with Matt Murray, plays Garrett Modi. After a very public humiliation and firing from his city council seat, Garrett winds up teaching a class that helps immigrants study for their American citizenship test. One of Garrett’s students is Griselda, played by Diana Maria Riva. Griselda has an unending supply of part-time gigs to make ends meet, including bartender, waitress and baseball stadium hotdog vendor. While Riva isn’t juggling as many simultaneous jobs as her SUNNYSIDE character, she works constantly. Her numerous film and TV credits include COMMON LAW, […]Read On »


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SUNNYSIDE: Co-creator Matt Murray on new Kal Penn comedy series – Exclusive Interview

By ABBIE BERNSTEIN 10/03/2019
SUNNYSIDE - Season 1 Key Art | ©2019 NBCUniversal

NBC’s new Thursday-night comedy SUNNYSIDE takes its title from the New York neighborhood where it is set (although the series is shot in Los Angeles). Kal Penn stars as Garrett Modi (Penn’s real last name), a disgraced former city council member who seeks redemption (and income) by helping a disparate group of immigrants help study for their U.S. citizenship exams. Penn created SUNNYSIDE with fellow executive producer Matt Murray, whose other credits include writing/producing on THE GOOD PLACE, BROOKLYN NINE-NINE, PARKS AND RECREATION, and COMMUNITY. Murray participates in a Q&A panel for SUNNYSIDE, then takes time for a one-on-one follow-up […]Read On »


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DESIGNATED SURVIVOR: Creator David Guggenheim on new Kiefer Sutherland series – Exclusive Interview

By ABBIE BERNSTEIN 09/28/2016
Kiefer Sutherland in DESIGNATED SURVIVOR - Season 1 | ©2016 ABC/Bob D’Amico

In ABC’s new Wednesday-night drama DESIGNATED SURVIVOR, Kiefer Sutherland stars as Tom Kirkman, a low-level government department head who suddenly finds himself President of the United States when a State of the Union address is lethally attacked by persons unknown. David Guggenheim, who wrote the films SAFE HOUSE and STOLEN, is the creator of DESIGNATED SURVIVOR. There really is such a status, a government member who is kept separate from events in case of an unlikely disaster that takes out the U.S. President, Vice-President and Speaker of the House. The series also deals with Tom’s relationship with his wife, played […]Read On »


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BATTLE CREEK star Kal Penn gives the scoop on Season 1 – interview

By ABBIE BERNSTEIN 03/08/2015
Kal Penn stars as detective Fontanelle White in BATTLE CREEK | © 2015 Cliff Lipson/CBS

Battle Creek, Michigan, is a real town that, until now, has been most famous for being home to many popular brands of breakfast cereal. It is now also the landscape for CBS’ new series BATTLE CREEK, Sundays at 10 PM. Originated by BREAKING BAD’s creator Vince Gilligan and co-developed with HOUSE creator David Shore, who is now the show runner (Gilligan is devoting his energies full-time to BETTER CALL SAUL), BATTLE CREEK explores what happens when cynical police detective Russ Agnew (Dean Winters) must work with optimistic FBI agent Milton Chamberlain (Josh Duhamel). Kal Penn plays Russ’ regular partner, Detective […]Read On »


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Exclusive Interview: BHOPAL: A PRAYER FOR RAIN actor Kal Penn and director Ravi Kumar

By ABBIE BERNSTEIN 11/16/2014
Kal Penn in BHOPAL: A PRAYER FOR RAIN | ©2014 Revolver

Although a number of documentaries have been made on the subject, BHOPAL: A PRAYER FOR RAIN is the first scripted drama about the lead-up to and fallout from the explosion of the American-owned Union Carbide plant in Bhopal, India, a disaster that killed at least 10,000 people. Director Ravi Kumar, who co-wrote the screenplay with David Brooks, and leading man Kal Penn, probably best known as the star of the HAROLD AND KUMAR comedy films, get on the phone together with Assignment X to discuss their work on BHOPAL. ASSIGNMENT X: You’ve said that the book BHOPAL – LESSONS OF […]Read On »


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Movie Review: BHOPAL: A PRAYER FOR RAIN

By ABBIE BERNSTEIN 11/14/2014
BHOPAL: A PRAYER FOR RAIN | ©2014 Revolver

Stars: Martin Sheen, Kal Penn, Mischa Barton, Raajpal Yadav, Tannishtha Chatterjee, Fagun Thakrar Writers: Ravi Kumar and David Brooks Director: Ravi Kumar Distributor: Revolver Release Date: November 14, 2014 In 1984, a disaster at the American-owned Union Carbide chemical plant in Bhopal, India, killed ten thousand people. A number of documentaries have been made about the incident, but now director Ravi Kumar, who co-wrote the film with David Brooks, has made the scripted drama BHOPAL: A PRAYER FOR RAIN. The movie, inspired in part by journalist Sanjoy Hazarika’s book BHOPAL – LESSONS OF A GAS TRAGEDY, depicts not only the […]Read On »


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TV Review: WE ARE MEN – Season 1 – “Pilot” – Series Premiere

By CARL CORTEZ 10/01/2013
Tony Shalhoub, Jerry O'Connell, Kal Penn and Chris Smith in WE ARE MEN - Season 1 | ©2013 CBS

Stars: Tony Shalhoub, Jerry O’Connell, Kal Penn, Chris Smith, Rebecca Breeds Writer: Rob Greenberg Director: Rob Greenberg Network: CBS, airs Monday nights Original Telecast: September 30, 2013 In what should have been the worst TV comedy of the fall season, turns out to be one of the best. WE ARE MEN, for all its awkward attempts at sexist humor, provides the backdrop for what is  the freshest new comedy on any of the networks. It also is a stand-out among the CBS comedies, because unlike the disjointed THE CRAZY ONES, it feels like a mini-movie. Give credit to creator Rob […]Read On »


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