Paul Barndt

Indie Questions, Complex Answers

Gus Van Sant's low-budget, Palme D'or-winning independent film Elephant not only took on the Columbine massacre, it did so successfully with unknown teenage actors and an elaborate temporal structu

By Paul Barndt | Apr 24 12:00 am ET

Looking at Quiet Lives in a Monastery of Great Silence

Nestled in a remote area of the French Alps, the Grande Chartreuse is the home of the Carthusian Order, which is the strictest order of Catholic monks.

By Paul Barndt | Mar 1 12:00 am ET

Death Comics, Sex Tourism, and Chuck Norris

Every December, Houghton Mifflin's Best American series comes through with its fix for finicky readers, distilling the finest of all the past year's literary endeavors into anthologies packaged by

By Gizem Orbey, Paul Barndt, Katelyn Doyle, Madeleine Compagnon, Caitlin Halpern, and Alexandria Symonds | Jan 22 12:00 am ET

The Original Hannibal

In 146 B.C., the Romans ended the century-long Punic Wars and achieved the complete destruction of Carthage: they burned the city to the ground, killed its men, sold its women and children into sla

By Paul Barndt | Apr 3 12:00 am ET

Dancing Awkwardly to an Offbeat Polka

Stephen Wright's previous novels have been rooted firmly in recent history: 1983's Meditations in Green is the savage, heartbreaking story of a shattered Vietnam veteran, and 1994's Going Native is

By Paul Barndt | Mar 20 12:00 am ET

Rick James Parties

On a Saturday afternoon in the autumn of 2004, Dave Chappelle and his friends threw a free concert in Brooklyn.

By Paul Barndt | Mar 3 12:00 am ET

Death: Hideously Slaying Sexy Teens Since 2000

Decapitations, disembowelments, and other gruesome deaths don't normally get crowds cheering and hollering, but people expect this stuff when they walk up to the ticket counter, put down their 10 b

By Paul Barndt | Feb 10 12:00 am ET

No Lover? No Problem

Valentine's Day isn't until Feb. 14, but the influence of this celebration-namely, of love and romance-takes hold throughout the month.

By Paul Barndt | Feb 10 12:00 am ET

New Narnia Adaptation Packs a Powerful Punch

Disney's first fully computer-generated film, Chicken Little, was released a few weeks ago, and though it did well at the box office, it fell far from matching the gargantuan grosses or glowing rev

By Paul Barndt | Dec 9 12:00 am ET

The Fantastic Five

5x2

By A.J. Goldmann, Yinan Fitzpatrick Zhang, Paul Barndt, and Tess Russell | Sep 8 12:00 am ET

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