Here's the bottom line on some of what I've seen lately onstage and onscreen: THEATER *This is the last week to see Katori Hall's SATURDAY NIGHT/ SUNDAY MORNING at the Lyric Stage. It's an entertaining slice of life set in Memphis during WWII at Miss Mary's Press n' Curl, [...]
The scandal broke on January 6, 2002 the Feast of the Epiphany-- and what a revelation. On that Sunday, The Boston Globe Spotlight Team released the first in a series of articles that would earn them a Pulitzer Prize, and cast light on a story that had been festering in the dark corners of Catholic parishes around Massachusetts for decades: priests had been [...]
Switzerland didn't do it until 1971: grant women the right to vote. "Impossible!" you say. Well, it's just one of the astonishing facts revealed in SUFFRAGETTE, a new film about the early struggle of women to win the right to vote. To be heard. To have a say. To be considered worthy of being listened to. To [...]
THE SECOND MOTHER, Brazil's entry as Best Foreign Language film at the 88th Annual Oscars--is a warm-hearted superbly acted, insightfully scripted tale about motherhood across class boundaries-- that literally knows no bounds. Acclaimed Brazilian actress Regina Case stars as Val, a working class live-in housekeeper/nanny to a wealthy family in Sao Paulo, where she has become like a member of [...]
THE MARTIAN or (How a Geeked-out Gardener Saved His Own Life) stars our most down to earth actor in an out of this world saga that grabs us in its first few minutes, takes us on a wild ride, and features a signature performance in one of the best films of the year to date. MATT DAMON-- yeah, I love him, you love him-- [...]
ENTER FOR A CHANCE TO WIN free passes to the Fathom Event’s The Met Series 2015 Live and Encore one night events! Enter to win by emailing fathomeventsboston@gmail.com with “(Name of production) & JOYCE’S CHOICES” in the subject line. 5 admit 2 winners will be selected and emailed their complimentary passes! The passes will be valid [...]
“Black Mass,” the movie all of Boston has been dying to see — shot right here in our own back yard, where these grizzly events unfolded — is a funereal event. It’s a solid film, with an impressive central performance by Johnny Depp as Boston crime lord James “Whitey” Bulger, but it never rises to the [...]
A few more good ones left to see this summer and one circling the drain... See MISTRESS AMERICA! Co-writer/director Noah Baumbach's and his muse/co-writer/star Greta Gerwig's hilarious ode to finding your path through and post college. Freshman Tracy (Lola Kirke) is floundering in her first semester and connects with her soon to be older "stepsister by marriage" Brooke [...]
If you're still casting about for something to see in the dog days of summer, here's my take on a few new ones out or streaming online now! ZIPPER: No, it's not a thriller about a tailer with a yen for alterations. It's drama about a straight arrow politician with an addiction to escorts. The handsome Patrick Wilson looking [...]
In the opening scenes of THE RUNNER the oil slick from the 2010 BP spill is seen spreading over the gulf coast, over the wild life, crippling the fishermen, the local culture, and the economy; by the end of the film, the contamination will have infiltrated the landscape, political and personal, of the man at [...]
