I've always had a weakness for villainesses. Sleeping Beauty was a snooze compared to the magnificent Maleficent. I adored Snow White; still her ravishing wicked queen of a stepmother was disturbingly alluring. Even that green-complected shrew on a broom who threatened Dorothy, the Wicked Witch of the West (the sheer power of that woman with [...]
Happy New Year one and all. As I write this, I am consumed by so much raw emotion--outrage, disgust, sadness, cautious optimism, disbelief, frustration--that I have hardly been able to focus on writing movie reviews. It's difficult to pull myself away from the nightmare still unfolding. I am holding my breath in the days leading [...]
The two events I recommend here are among the most joyous presentations of the season, and are just as, if not more effective in virtual form! One marks its 5oth ANNIVERSARY this year, that medieval pageant celebrating the winter solstice known as THE CHRISTMAS REVELS. The second has been a classic on page, stage, and [...]
Has filmmaker Christopher Nolan ("Inception," Memento") outsmarted himself? Oh yes he has. His latest and much anticipated TENET is another mind bender of a sci-fi thriller, but its thrills are tempered by the tedium of its method as an end in itself, instead of a means to an end we care about. The result is [...]
MULAN just opened virtually and it's too bad you can't see this on the big screen. It's an expansively shot and handsomely choreographed epic adventure that will inspire all the women (and the men I hope) in your household; it inspires me still, and I know the story well. Disney's original animated version came out [...]
You are in luck-- a fresh, exhilarating new film opens on YOUR screens this weekend: WE ARE LITTLE ZOMBIES. A buzzy hit at Sundance last year, it's the debut feature film by writer/director Makoto Nagahisa and sparkles with inventiveness and style, humor and wisdom, humanity and digital dazzle. It's a fizzy mashup of retro video [...]
Am hunkered down with lists of things to do that I just can't make myself DO. Cleaning...organizing (too listless). Reading (glued to online and TV coronavirus updates). Writing. OK. The next few weeks are going to be rough so "Fasten your seatbelts. It's going to be a bumpy night." Here are some tips to help [...]
It's over! The winners of Oscars 2020 are in and it was an historic night. Here are the highlights and low lights beginning with the evening's BEST moment: ***PARASITE winning four Oscars including the first time in Oscar history that a non-English film, as well as a South Korean film, won Best Picture. [...]
The movie event I live for ALL year is happening this weekend! The host-less 92nd Oscars are set to air this Sunday night, February 9 on ABC @8PM!! I love the sartorial splendor, the rhetorical blunders, the offhand quips, and above all, Brad Pitt. Who is bound to win. He's won everything else, including our [...]
The critics have spoken-- and women ruled the Boston Society of Film Critics awards! "Little Women," much of it shot in and around Concord and Boston, topped the list of winners at the 39th installment of the BSFC awards, 2019. We gathered all day Sunday, December 15 to vote the best in 15 [...]
