FENCES-- the seminal Pulitzer Prize-winning work by August Wilson, one of a decade-by-decade 10-play cycle about the black experience in America--will rattle your bones. I've seen the great James Earl Jones do it onstage in a fearsome, monumental performance. Now I've seen two-time Oscar winner Denzel Washington do it on the big screen and my cage has been rattled and shattered [...]
The studios continue to save their best offerings for last. So many good movies have come out in these last few weeks, that I've decided to stuff them into holiday grab bags and tell you what I think beginning with the following group of three with more soon to come! JACKIE: Herewith Natalie Portman's stunning, eery portrait of a [...]
If you're still looking for that perfect gift for someone you love who loves the arts, I am passing along this 2016 Holiday Gift Guide, itself a gift from WBUR's The ARTery writers-- and I am proud to be one! This annual gift guide has several stockings full of suggestions in every discipline [...]
Boston's two film critics' circles (I belong to both) have voted their year end awards! The BOSTON SOCIETY OF FILM CRITICS (BSFC) have named "La La Land" starring Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone and directed by Best Director Damien ("Whiplash") Chazelle as BEST PICTURE! The Boston Online Film Critics Association (BOFCA) has named "Moonlight" BEST PICTURE with Best Ensemble for the magnificent trio [...]
MANCHESTER BY THE SEA confirms what I saw in Casey Affleck the first time I saw him in a lead role onscreen: the man is a mesmerizing actor. In "Manchester by the Sea" he once again lures us into deep water as a man struggling to stay afloat amid the wreckage of a horrible personal tragedy. Oscar-nominated [...]
Many movies reveal their secrets within the first five minutes, and it's not until the end that we understand what we have already seen-- and know. When that moment comes in ARRIVAL, it's like a tsunami in slow motion. ARRIVAL spills its secrets softly in a grand, goosebump-inducing sci-fi adventure that made me feel like I was tumbling through space [...]
HURRY! FREE ADVANCE SCREENING for a STX Entertainment release “THE SPACE BETWEEN US” For the chance to receive two tickets to the screening please visit: https://stxtickets.com/Ladls36153 Thursday, November 10, 2016 at 7:00 PM in Boston (Theater will be named on your ticket) “THE SPACE BETWEEN US” Rated: “PG-13” Opening Date: December 16, 2016 Cast: Gary Oldman, [...]
Ben Affleck as THE ACCOUNTANT is crunching more than numbers. This is a real departure for the actor as he brings to life an ass-kicking, Asperger's syndrome, math wiz working his way through an intense labyrinth of secrecy and surprise. The film is a refreshing and well-balanced mix of farflung elements: action, thriller, romantic comedy(!) family dysfunction, and a shout [...]
Movies and plays take most of my time, so I don't have as much time for books. Thus, "The Girl on the Train" the movie, starring Emily Blunt and based on the runaway best seller by Paula Hawkins, was a complete surprise! The trailer is a grabber and I couldn't wait to see the film. When I did, [...]
A pair of movies now playing at a cineplex near you wear their agendas on their sleeves: each re-tells a true story, skewers its villains, and brings its audience right up close to the imagined scenes of the action whose outcome we already know. Director/co-writer Oliver Stone's SNOWDEN comes with a careful central performance by Joseph Gordon-Levitt as Edward Snowden, computer wiz and infrastructure analyst for the National [...]
