Visiting 72nd Street and Broadway today, one finds the confluence of Sherman Square and Verdi Park. It's a nice little area, complete with statues, tasteful landscaping, and the occasional homeless person scattered among the yuppies and other usual upscale riffraff that haunt the UWS. There's a Gray's Papaya, a Burritoville, a few chain stores and a lot of nice buildings. Physically, it's not far from the area where they filmed exteriors on Music and Lyrics; architecturally, it is ...

 Friday, August 25------There are still a few days to catch the final  offerings in the NYC NOIR series that has been running at the Film Forum for the past few weeks. Dedicated to a depiction of New York as a place of grit, grays and ghosts, the series offers a tidy endgame of treats, a mix of classics and little known gems. With temperatures expected to hit the 90s in the final dog days of August, New York never looked quite so noir. But at least this NYC is air conditioned.REAR WINDOW (1954...

Oscar ceremony serves up a clean sweep and a long nap February 29, 2004Sean Penn picked the wrong year to attend the Oscars. Hollywood’s favorite rebel – and four-time best actor nominee – famously snubbed Academy Awards ceremonies in the past. Though he threatened, yet again, to bypass this year’s awards show, he turned up Sunday night in a sleek tux with wife Robin by his side. Penn went on to win the best actor gold for his Mystic River turn – but he also had to sit through one of t...

Sean Penn picked the wrong year to attend the Oscars. Hollywood’s favorite rebel – and four-time best actor nominee – famously snubbed Academy Awards ceremonies in the past. Though he threatened, yet again, to bypass this year’s awards show, he turned up Sunday night in a sleek tux with wife Robin by his side. Penn went on to win the best actor gold for his Mystic River turn – but he also had to sit through one of the most lackluster awards ceremonies in years.Billy Crystal’s cracked...

Sean Penn picked the wrong year to attend the Oscars. Hollywood’s favorite rebel – and four-time best actor nominee – famously snubbed Academy Awards ceremonies in the past. Though he threatened, yet again, to bypass this year’s awards show, he turned up Sunday night in a sleek tux with wife Robin by his side. Penn went on to win the best actor gold for his Mystic River turn – but he also had to sit through one of the most lackluster awards ceremonies in years.Billy Crystal’s cracked...