“He Stood on a Firm Piece of Earth”: John Patrick Shanley on Moonstruck director Norman Jewison | Tributes

Jewison’s masterpiece, probably, is “Moonstruck,” written by John Patrick Shanley. Shanley, now 73, is Bronx-born Vietnam veteran who got a degree in Educational Theater from New York University after the war. He ended up writing 23 plays, including Danny and the Deep Blue Sea, Italian American Reconciliation, Doubt: A Parable, and Brooklyn Laundry, which opens … Read more

R.I.P. Icon Norman Lear, Thank You for Your Century of Inspiration | Chaz’s Journal

3. “Cold Turkey”: Back in 1971, Roger awarded four stars to Lear’s scathing satire of the tobacco industry starring Dick Van Dyke and Bob Newhart. “What we need are mean comedies, filled with mean and petty people who hate and envy each other, and exhibit the basest of human motives. Comedies like that canonized W. … Read more