I adore Melissa McCarthy, her perfect timing, her nuanced--yes nuanced--characters, her improvisational flair. I find just about everything she does hysterically funny even when she's appearing in a movie that demeans her comedic gifts. Such is the case in the number one movie at the box office this week: THE BOSS which finds McCarthy compromised by the adolescent boy sensibilities driving this crude vehicle. [...]
Where would we be without two-time Best Actress Oscar winner Sally Field and another of her indelible, quirky, wholly committed, utterly endearing performances? One glimpse of Field in the opening sequence as Doris Miller crying at her mother's funeral, wearing cat eye glasses and a big Minnie Mouse bow wrapped around a towering bun of hair-- and she had me at [...]
I love a good storm--and dazzling heroics float my boat. Disney's THE FINEST HOURS satisfies both cravings in a new film which comes at a time of year that generally finds us in the doldrums of the movie release schedule. But this film is a new year's treat. Not only is it well made, but it tells the true story of the most [...]
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 [...]
In an era of rampant consumerism, a bloated blogosphere, Trump-eted messaging through thousands of media outlets, and pervasive psychic indigestion, it might be difficult to unplug and sit still long enough to hear the quiet simple message of the film A SMALL GOOD THING. It is. Local Academy Award-winning filmmaker Pamela Tanner Boll (BORN INTO BROTHELS 2004) here directs a [...]
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-- [...]
We are in the golden age of documentaries and a new one just released is an absolute masterwork. LISTEN TO ME MARLON gives us a piercingly intimate look inside the actor who changed everything about acting for all time, Marlon Brando. It turns out that this most enigmatic and provocative of stars left us quite a map to his [...]
If you haven’t already, see TRAINWRECK starring and written by this summer’s “It” girl, comedian Amy Schumer and directed by Judd Apatow. Schumer plays Amy a writer at a men’s magazine and a “pretty-ish” modern chick who does what she wants and is doing fine. She learned at her father’s (Colin Quinn) knee that “monogamy [...]
It's a beautiful week to head down to P-Town and its 17th annual International Film Festival (PIFF) which opens Thursday June 18 and runs for four days through Sunday June 21! A pal of mine Boston-based director Alan Chebot is showing his first independently produced feature-length documentary OUTERMOST RADIO/The Film. This doc takes you into the colorful inner sanctum of [...]
January to March is typically a wasteland for good movies but here's one that might not be a complete waste, because it features two of our biggest stars and best actors. SERENA is based on the novel by Ron Rash, and features Best Actress Oscar-winner Jennifer Lawrence in the title role and Oscar nominee Bradley Cooper. This is a melodramatic romance set in the moody [...]
