OK. Seth Meyers is officially a genius. He's the heir apparent to Jon Stewart as comic provocateur and skewerer of all things worth skewering from politics and pop culture to the metastatic media coverage that follows. Seth has now broadened his reach to include movie criticism and sociolinguistics. Yeah, we know he's from New Hampsha, but he knows a Bahstin accent when he [...]
What an intense week. I cannot write anything else before expressing how heartbroken I was to learn that brilliant actor Alan Rickman and musical icon David Bowie died--both Londoners, both at age 69 of cancer. Bowie was an artistic visionary and sonic adventurer who cut an endlessly original and challenging swathe through the musical landscape. We find him [...]
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 [...]
Never mind The Force-- I HAVE AWAKENED! The latest installment of STAR WARS EPISODE VII: THE FORCE AWAKENS has pulled me out of the Doldrums of Prequel (a group of empty islands way off the coast of the Star Wars franchise) and takes us home, back to the tale's original charm, storytelling, irresistible characters, sense of adventure, humor and excitement, and creates new characters [...]
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 [...]
Here's a holiday double feature to be thankful for! The first is a sci-fi adventure franchise that neatly wraps itself up, and the second is a truly artful, old-fashioned romance that may generate a BEST ACTRESS OSCAR nomination! THE HUNGER GAMES:MOCKINGJAY-Part 2 finds Jennifer Lawrence, older and wiser as Katniss Everdeen, the leader of the rebellion in Panem against the cruel President Snow (Donald Sutherland) [...]
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 [...]
