edited by Jonathan Doyle

Mafioso (The Criterion Collection, 3.18.2008) Nino Badalamenti is a supervisor in a car manufacturing plant who hasn't taken a vacation in over two years. On his way out the door to visit his beloved childhood hometown of Sicily -- with his blonde wife and daughters -- Nino is handed a package by his boss and asked to deliver it to a powerful and influential Sicilian gangster named Don Vincenzo. Once in Sicily, Nino has a hoot seeing friends and family, but his wife has trouble fitting in and is unfairly dismissed as a snob by Nino's family. Even more worrisome, Nino finds himself entangled in an intricate web of secret mafioso dealings and is eventually sent on an unexpectedly... elaborate errand. (continued)

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May 2

The Favor

Mister Lonely

XXY

May 9

A Previous Engagement

The Babysitters

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Frontier(s)

Noise

OSS 117: Cario - Nest of Spies

What Happens in Vegas

May 16

The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian

Reprise

Sangre de me Sangre

May 21

The edge of Heaven

May 22

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull

May 23

The Children of Huang Shi

Postal

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May 30

Bigger, Stronger, Faster

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Nathan Lee Clipped

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The Reeler's (and not, in this instance, Defamer's) Stu VanAirsdale reported an hour ago that another New York City film critic -- the Village Voice's Nathan Lee -- has been whacked for "economic reasons." Lee was a Voice staffer for a grand total of 18 months.

"My employment at the paper ends immediately," Lee said in an e-mail earlier today. "Someone else, alas, will be tasked with specifying the precise shade of periwinkle frosting atop the cupcakes in My Blueberry Nights. And so I am, as they say, 'looking for work,' though presumably not as a staff film critic as such jobs no longer appear to exist."

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Posted by Jeffrey Wells on March 24, 2008 at 07:12 PM

comment #1

Mgmax says ...

Judging by the Village Voice these days, he got out of there not a moment too soon.

Posted by Mgmax at March 24, 2008 07:45 PM

comment #2

jenyamato says ...

Holy crap, another one bites the dust. This is such a shame. Hope he lands somewhere else fast.

Posted by jenyamato at March 24, 2008 10:45 PM

comment #3

T. Holly says ...

And Jeff thinks the web has filled The Voice void.

Posted by T. Holly at March 24, 2008 11:19 PM

comment #4

Terry McCarty says ...

As far as film critics employed by NEW TIMES baron Michael Lacey go, he stayed longer at the VOICE than Lacey pet Robert Wilonsky did guest-critiquing on ROEPER WITHOUT EBERT.

Posted by Terry McCarty at March 24, 2008 11:30 PM

comment #5

scooterzz says ...

this is just so wrong....really....but there's a lot more to come.....ralph wiggins knows.....

Posted by scooterzz at March 25, 2008 12:41 AM

comment #6

Bob Violence says ...

I agree with Mgmax that this is probably a blessing in disguise, but I'll go on pretending it's actually some sort of karmic payback for calling Southland Tales last year's best film, which is about as close to "objectively wrong" as film criticism gets.

Posted by Bob Violence at March 25, 2008 02:27 AM

comment #7

Mgmax says ...

The Voice became a void while the Web was still Arpanet.

I remember well when critics who knew something and could write, like Andrew Sarris, started being pushed aside for those who merely had the right gender/race and politics.

New Times may not be a good owner, but the Voice's decline long predates them.

Posted by Mgmax at March 25, 2008 05:04 AM

comment #8

raygo says ...

I'll have to check to see what films he reviewed. Most of the time Village Voice reviews are just a series of random musings that seem to have little to do with the film, and are typically far too brief to give any real critique.

Posted by raygo at March 25, 2008 09:59 AM

comment #9