This summer at the movies sucks. I normally despise that expression but it accurately describes the vacuum that is this summer's movie season. Underwhelming fare is now playing on mainstream screens everywhere, and I am searching like crazy for things I want to see. Here's what I don't want to see: --NEWSCASTERS playing themselves on the big screen and then complaining about [...]
What can you say about a man named Weiner who's famous for exposing his penis to the world? All the jokes have been made, but this film is no joke. It's a real close up, unadorned look at the man behind the appendage, with the caveat that I and you as watchers are all part of his [...]
These young musicians from Japan have arrived in Boston and have made the most beautiful music out of a catastrophe, wringing hope out of disaster through the power of art. LISTEN and WATCH. Fukushima Youth Sinfonietta - Music from Fukushima in Boston - from The Japan Society of Boston on Vimeo. The Fukushima Youth Sinfonietta, [...]
A flurry of fine films has just descended on the big screen in the last few weeks, almost too many to take in; but I did my best and here are my TOP FIVE FILMS of the year, some of which aren't due out until Christmas! 1) THE REVENANT-- A stunning 156 minute saga by award-winning Mexican director Alejandro G. Inarritu (BIRDMAN) starring Leonardo DiCaprio [...]
When I was 7 years old, my unsuspecting parents took me to the drive-in to see the new Hitchcock film: PSYCHO. To this day, shower curtains creep me out. But my love of movies, and Hitchcock, was sealed forever. As we enter awards season and critics' groups weigh in on the best cinematic offerings of the year, it’s the perfect time [...]
THE CRITICS HAVE SPOKEN!! This weekend, the two Boston film critics groups to which I belong announced their 2015 year end awards! So whose picks are closest to yours? Read all the way to the bottom and see if it's MAD MAX or SPOTLIGHT-- and all the rest. Peruse the results and let me know what you think! The [...]
In an era of rampant consumerism, a bloated blogosphere, Trump-eted messaging through thousands of media outlets, and pervasive psychic indigestion, it might be difficult to unplug and sit still long enough to hear the quiet simple message of the film A SMALL GOOD THING. It is. Local Academy Award-winning filmmaker Pamela Tanner Boll (BORN INTO BROTHELS 2004) here directs a [...]
Documentaries continue to be among the strongest, most absorbing and well-crafted pieces of cinema today. Here's yet another just out in theaters and On Demand: STEVE JOBS: THE MAN IN THE MACHINE, the latest from Oscar-winning documentarian Alex Gibney who has previously applied his critical intelligence and probing eye to Scientology and the Enron scandal. Now he's taken a bite [...]
We are in the golden age of documentaries and a new one just released is an absolute masterwork. LISTEN TO ME MARLON gives us a piercingly intimate look inside the actor who changed everything about acting for all time, Marlon Brando. It turns out that this most enigmatic and provocative of stars left us quite a map to his [...]
I know — it’s summer at the movies, but fear not — there is a way to block those brainless blockbusters with more satisfying alternatives: The 24th annual Woods Hole Film Festival, the oldest on Cape Cod, is set to roll for eight days (July 25 to Aug. 1)! We’re talking more than 100 films showcasing [...]
