It's one of the most talked about movies of the year and almost universally praised:BOYHOOD--and it's mesmerizing. Oscar-nominated writer/director Richard Linklater has once again focused on the evolution of characters over time. Linklater, who gave us the "Before" trilogy ("Before Sunset," "Before Midnight," "Before Sunrise") has here traced the growing up of a young Texas [...]
So many screens-- so little to see. GODZILLA is godawful. And put a big X through X-MEN: DAYS OF FUTURE PAST. Coasting on the devotion of diehard fans who remember the back stories, this latest installment suffers from franchise burnout and never breaks a sweat. How about MALEFICENT? What could be better than Angelina Jolie [...]
HURRY!! FREE PASSES to a Fathom Events’ one-night presentation “SHATNER’S WORLD” 5 PEOPLE WHO RESPOND (via “Contact Joyce” on home page) WITH THEIR FULL NAME AND MAILING ADDRESS HAVE THE CHANCE TO WIN A PASS FOR TWO! Thursday, April 24, 2014 at 7:00 PM at a Framingham Theater. (Theater will be named when notified.) “SHATNER’S [...]
Two quick reviews before the weekend! NOAH is a crazy film by Darren Aronofsky (THE FOUNTAIN, BLACK SWAN) manifesting the filmmaker's trademark tussle with the unknowable and a feverish attempt to reconcile good and evil, faith and fear, while yoking the otherworldly to concrete reality. Russell Crowe as Noah gets the message to build an [...]
The modern day spinner of cinematic fairytales, Wes Anderson, is like that other "Andersen"--Hans Christian-- in his telling of layered fables that have adults, as well as children in their sights. But Wes Anderson accentuates the comedy, like "concupiscent curds" atop a heady brew of murder, mutilation, and even deeper mayhem. His latest THE GRAND [...]
I am sitting here as a nor'easter wails outside, thinking about WINTER'S TALE and how cold it left me. It's also not going to do much for the ravishing young actress whose character "Lady Sybil" was killed off in DOWNTOWN ABBEY--Jessica Brown Findlay. Her career will remain in the deep freeze until a better movie [...]
Look. I love the arts. And this is a FANTASTIC a story about rescuing artistic masterpieces from Nazis and returning them to their owners-- I mean, what could be better than that?!! Well, having seen THE MONUMENTS MEN-- just about anything. This is one of those hidden chapters of World War II that begs to [...]
The race is ON! Chris "Thor" Hemsworth helped hammer home the 86th Oscar nominations with Academy president Cheryl Boone Isaacs and the results are pretty much as I expected: AMERICAN HUSTLE and GRAVITY tied for most nominations--10 each, followed by 12 YEARS A SLAVE with 9! What I'm delighted about? Matthew McConaughey. It's his year [...]
I stumbled out of this film in a daze of horrified relief. The Pulitzer Prize-winning play by Tracy Letts, now a movie starring Meryl Streep and Julia Roberts, describes one of the most dysfunctional sagas in the annals of dysfunctional family sagas. It is not the bleak, claustrophobic womb of madness and despair that is [...]
No matter what anyone tells you, AMERICAN HUSTLE is one of THE best movies of the year. And it was shot in Boston (standing in for New Jersey)-- so it was a kick to see the gilded Wang Theater lobby and environs decked out as a swank gambling hall for one of the film's climactic [...]
