Paul Giamatti in American Splendor courtesy Fine Line
Monday, Jan. 28 at 9 pm/ETThe Monastery | SUND An old man who dreams of converting his crumbling Danish chateau into a Russian Orthodox monastery butts heads with a strong-willed nun. Could anything sound duller? But this wonderful documentary is actually a surprisingly complex and deeply poignant portrait of a stubborn and irascible loner who meets his match in the last person he ever expected.Tuesday, Jan. 29, at 10 pmFrances | FLX Jessica Lange took everyone by surprise with her shockingly raw portrayal of the troubled movie star Frances Farmer, a promising but difficult actress who went from Paramount costumes to a straightjacket in record time. On the short list of revelatory moments that suddenly redefine an actor’s career, this one’s close to the top.Wednesday, Jan. 30, at 9:30 pmOne, Two, Three | TCM When it came to comedies, Billy Wilder made some of the funniest (Some Like It Hot) and sharpest (The Apartment) ever. This underseen 1961 effort, in which a surpris...
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Paul Rudd
Not anxious to brave the roads this long holiday weekend? IFC has the perfect compromise: Wanderlust (premiering May 29 at 9 pm/ET), an original documentary detailing Hollywood's many and great road movies, with insightful commentary from such heavyweights as Dennis Hopper (Easy Rider), Alexander Payne (
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There are some actors (coughOrlando Bloomcough) who repeat the same role over and over again without realizing it. Then there are actors like Paul Giamatti, who's completely aware that his characters are often strikingly similar.
"I suppose I am [typecast] a little bit," muses the New York-born actor, whose latest film, Sideways, hits theaters today. "There's definitely a desperate quality to all of the guys I play. And in the studio films I do, I'm that guy, but a little goofier. I wear a funny hat or get turned blue or something.
"It's weird. I'm either depressed or I'm really aggressive. Some great actor once said that all actors really only have two characters that they play — two basic guys that you play variations on, and that's always what you do. I guess my two guys are Depressed Passive Guy or Psycho Aggressive Guy."
His Sideways character fits neatly into the former category. As Miles, the cynical wine aficionado
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