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 [...]
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 [...]
It was my last best hope for the dull summer movie offerings-- and it did not disappoint! JASON BOURNE held me fast from first frame to last. I must admit, the $1.3 billion dollar grossing franchise starring Boston's own MATT DAMON, has been an action fave of mine since its inception, not least of all because [...]
THE 2016 OSCARS are upon us and I thought I'd weigh in on a few films I'd been mum on-- in case you were wondering for what and whom to root! ROOM: Nominated for Best Picture, Director, Actress, and Adapted Screenplay is a compactly explosive film about a horrifying situation: a young woman kidnapped, impregnated, and kept prisoner by a sexual predator-- and [...]
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 [...]
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 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, [...]
