'2012': Audiences might be better off looking, not listening Nov 14, 2009
There he meets over-the-top idiot savant Charlie Frost (Woody Harrelson), who knows all and tells all about impending doom. As that pesky core heats up and destabilizes the Earth's crust like nobody's business, we see all kinds of destruction, from oceans of fire to towering tsunamis, not to mention plot contrivances that beggar description. (FOX59, IN)
Forrest Gump Nov 13, 2009
That may be because the character has become so paraodied over the years, or a testament to modern audience's increased cynicism, but the movie does have its satisfying moments, it stands out as a technically proficient chronicle of the world seen through the eyes of the fastest idiot savant alive. Gump, through the benefit of hindsight, plays like a movie trying to achieve some pre-determined emotional resolution between its audience and subject, instead of letting both feel each other out and... (IGN FilmForce)
Weekend Guide: Theater Nov 13, 2009
": ***; Winter Garden Theatre, 1634 Broadway; 212-239-6200. "MARY POPPINS": **** New Amsterdam Theatre, 214 W. 42nd St.; 212-307- 4747. "NEXT TO NORMAL": ** Booth Theatre, 222 W. 45th St.; 212-239-6200. "THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA": **** Majestic Theatre, 247 W. 44th St.; 212-239-6200. "ROCK OF AGES": **; Brooks Atkinson Theatre, 256 W. 47th St.; 212-307-4100. "SHREK: THE MUSICAL": *** Broadway Theatre, Broadway at 53rd Street; 212-239-6200. Closes Jan. 3. "SOUTH PACIFIC": **** Vivian Beaumont... (New York Post -- Entertainment)
Hilton Als: Richard Foreman puts language onstage. Nov 10, 2009
Richard Foreman s Idiot Savant review : The New Yorker ... Elina Lwensohn, Willem Dafoe, and Alenka Kraigher in Idiot Savant ... Each of them is called Servant, and they re among the first people we see in the elegiac and beautiful Idiot Savant, by the writer and director Richard Foreman (at the Public). (New Yorker)
In foreign lands and distant times Nov 8, 2009
The courtly, handsome Rainwater wins Ella s heart with his kindness to everyone and his sensitivity to Solly, who, at a time before autism was recognized, has been diagnosed as an idiot savant. Outside the domestic haven of the boarding house Gilead is on the verge of chaos. (Boston Globe)
Dafoe navigates offbeat path Nov 5, 2009
" asks the title character of Rich ard Foreman's new play "Idiot Savant," before immediately answering himself, "Oh, this is so normal ... " Dafoe, hair piled high over his head like a demented samurai warrior, has more than a little experience with this sort of thing, thanks to his previous work with Foreman and his long stint with the equally experimental Wooster Group. As the women who alternately provoke and encourage the idiot savant, Alenka Kraigher and Elina Lowensohn fulfill their duties... (New York Post -- Entertainment)
Newsweek: The death of shock cinema Oct 19, 2009
The American Harmony Korine, whose envelope-pushing movie Trash Humpers debuted at the New York Film Festival alongside Antichrist, plays the same game differently: his persona (which you can see on his Letterman appearance on YouTube) is somewhere between mumbling space cadet and idiot savant. 1. (MSNBC -- News)
Fears of a clown Aug 9, 2009
The idiot savant is ennobled: the Nutty Professor and Happy Gilmore and Ace Ventura insist that surrealism and studied rudeness are the only sane responses to an insane world. It s through this endless clash between lowbrow and high, in fact, that culture itself comes - that standards are established and values assigned across boundaries of class and power. (Boston Globe)
An Open Letter to Jon Stewart Jul 25, 2009
I called you "an idiot savant" of comedy. (That was a complimentignore the idiot part, focus on the savant. (Slate)
More of this story Jul 4, 2009
busybody wrote on Jul 3, 2009 8:46 AM:" ONE PENNY COULD FIX IT ALL! Estimates suggest that a 1% increase on the state excise tax could fix the deficit. Because of the business lobby, Lingle refuses to even consider a one-penny-on-the-dollar excise tax increase. Targeting state workers is absolutely discriminatory. The best way to have everyone help is to raise the excise tax one measly tiny penny for each dollar spent. What could be more fair? Tourists won't care!! They come from states with 7... (Lihue Garden Island, HA)
Wasteland: Film version a failure of its own devices Jun 16, 2009
But "Land of the Lost" takes an established character, a competent one, and turns him into something of an idiot savant. I get rewriting characters --- changing Holly (Anna Friel) and Will (Danny McBride) from Rick's kids to the love interest and the skeezy sidekick opens up more plot possibilities. (Waterloo Courier, IO)
Life Of Riley May 7, 2009
She's like an idiot savant - beyond the crop tops and the clacky mules lurks the wisdom of the ages. Other times, you just want to slap her and run screaming from the television. (Sydney Morning Herald -- Entertainment)
FILM: Summer 2009 preview May 1, 2009
Is she an idiot savant. Or capable of seeing dead stocks. (Sioux City Journal)
US Fed's move is the bigger problem Mar 21, 2009
At occasions like the present, the American people act much like the dyslexic idiot savant Raymond Babbitt in the 1988 movie Rain Man. He couldn't shake a monomaniac fixation on the TV show People's Court or the alleged superiority of his K-Mart underwear; America can't seem to lose its fixation, its rage, over the issue of the US$165 million of bonuses granted to members of the American International Group (AIG) financial products division (AIGFP), the sector of the 90-year-old company that so... (Asia Times Online)
* Becks, Sir Sean and Keanu in fake Viagra ad shock Mar 1, 2009
Also involved are Sir Sean Connery of the Bahamas and my beloved idiot savant Keanu Reeves, but well go to Beckham first, as he might be judged the linchpin of the ad. Facing the camera, the erstwhile England captain purports to ask: Want to know how I can keep strong and running on the football field. (Taipei Times, Taiwan -- World Business)
''R. Crumb's Underground'' takes a look at the master of mischief Feb 13, 2009
People like to heap praise on Crumb, now 65, for being an unfettered id, as if he were some kind of idiot savant helplessly revealing profound truths about human nature and contemporary society. But this notion is ridiculous. (Boston Globe)
