On the long list of movie executive excuses not to make things—“A gay person can’t play straight!” “Men don’t like women’s stories!” “People don’t want to see movies about minorities!” “No one will believe a 57 year-old man could be in love with a 50-year-old woman!”—no one thought to add “Leonardo DiCaprio as the doting […]
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Review: Carol
Of his time-period-hopping contemporaries—the Coens, Tarantino, Linklater—it’s Todd Haynes who uses era most effectively, not merely as a cool framing device or something to subvert with modern language. From Velvet Goldmine’s lurid, woozy ’70s palettes to I’m Not There’s grittiness to, until this, his masterwork Far From Heaven’s lush, painting-like world, he uses era for context and emotion. His characters are […]
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Review: Sisters
On any other week of the year, a new Tina Fey-Amy Poehler pairing would be all anyone was talking about. While Sisters exists as smart counter-programming, most critics saved their careful consideration and overwrought sentences for a certain space opera reboot, dismissing this comedy outright. A mistake. The Poehler-Fey duo is a glorious thing, a perfect platonic coupling that never […]
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Review: In the Heart of the Sea
Title card: Nantucket, 1850. Internally: Groaaaannnn. Look, Ron Howard is a Hollywood director of the old-timiest variety, a real-life Peter Pan who got to grow up to make Cocoon, Far & Away and Apollo 13, big adventures with big stars and heart. But he’s also responsible for the Jim Carrey version of How the Grinch Stole Christmas, two Da Vinci Code movies […]
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Review: Creed
In one of the laziest years on record, we’ve moved far past sequeldom—never the most dignified place to be, even when talking Toy Story 2—into poorly executed, barely considered, cash-snatching rebootery. Movies like Jurassic World and Peanuts, repackaging the elements green-eyed producers think are what we want, then forgetting to surround them with feeling or, you know, craft. (The upcoming Star Wars […]
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Review: Room
A darling of the fall festival circuit, the Irish-Canadian co-pro Room is worthy of every accolade piled atop its scrappy, sensitive shoulders. Based on Emma Donoghue’s novel, it stars Brie Larson as a woman who was abducted as a teenager and kept in a 10-by-10 shed as a sex slave. This situation has produced a […]
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Review: Truth & Spotlight
This month has brought two journalism movies, one a thudding misfire and the other a thrill. The former is Truth, a ham-fisted telling of the chain of events at CBS News that got Dan Rather fired. (Rather unfortunately, it contains a top-notch Cate Blanchett performance very much worth seeing.) The latter is this week’s entry, Spotlight, about the Boston Globe’s […]
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Review: Miss You Already
Catherine Hardwicke announced herself as a production designer-turned-director with 2003’s thirteen, starring Evan Rachel Wood as a teen out of control and Holly Hunter, in an Academy Award-nominated performance, as her alcoholic mom. It was scrappy, authentic and a tough watch. A few films down the line found her at the helm of Twilight, a […]
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The Low Anthem Is Coming
the low anthem City and Colour are coming to play a show at the Rebecca Cohn on February 20, 2012. The Tara Thorne-endorsed indie folkers the Low Anthem are opening. They apparently put on a very good live show. Although our tastes sometimes diverge, I usually will give something a chance if Tara likes it. […]
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In the Dead of Winter Celebrates Fifth Anniversary
Musical matrimony Luke and Melissa As I wandered down the balmy streets of Halifax this afternoon to I bumped into Tim Crabtree, mastermind behind Paper Beat Scissors, who was heading home for a bite to eat before his show later at the Bus Stop Theatre. We stopped and chatted, noting the unusually warm winter’s day […]