In the past few years, the feeling of excitement and wonderment I’d once gotten out of big-budget summer tentpoles has been missing; I assumed I’d outgrown it. But with the latest entry in the “Star Trek” franchise, J.J. Abrams has brought that anticipation back to the summer movie line-up. With “Star Trek: Into Darkness,” Abrams shows us that not only can he build a masterfully crafted sci-fi action adventure, he can make a damn good movie around it.
May 20, 2013 Leave a Comment
May 17, 2013 Leave a Comment
Foreign Friday: Michael
Foreign Friday is back to give you the opportunity to sound more interesting. Not all films are flowers and rainbows, sometimes it can get dark and international cinema has no problem embracing the ugly. This week we head over to Austria for the thoroughly disturbing “Michael”.
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May 4, 2013 Leave a Comment
Film Review: Pain & Gain
One filmmaker stands against a world in turmoil, fighting a power that nods disapprovingly in his direction. He fights for three things: explosions, Miami and bikini clad girls. That’s right, Michael Bay is back and this time he’s not messing around with battling robots or Shia LaBeouf. ”Pain & Gain” promises muscles and sweat but might be just as empty as its characters’ heads.
May 3, 2013 Leave a Comment
Foreign Friday: Sound of Noise
Here it comes, your new weekly flavor of the world. Foreign Fridays are here to remind you that the international community offers just a bit more than different kinds of food. I now realize that this is sounding a lot like a column about food, but don’t worry it’s about movies. Here I will highlight a film from somewhere other than America in a quest to get you to start reading subtitles. This week’s international entrée (last food reference, I swear) comes from Sweden with the sonic delight of “Sound of Noise.”
May 1, 2013 Leave a Comment
IFFBoston ’13 Review: The East
Over the past couple years, the demonification of the wealthy has been riding pretty high. With the Occupy Wall Street movement and a Congress that grows increasingly disconnected from the voting base, the wealthier have become an easy target; currently having more in common with Lex Luthor than Daddy Warbucks. However, this focus has been placed firmly on the banking industry and politicians, and let’s be honest, we all know that there are plenty more rich people that can do just as much bad. Enter “The East,” a thriller offering just enough to set itself apart from the dregs of its genre, to remind us of the villainy of corporate America.
April 30, 2013 Leave a Comment
IFFBoston ’13 Review: Some Girl(s)
“Some Girl(s),” adapted by Neil LaBute from his stage play of the same name, is a film from director Daisy von Scherler Mayer starring Adam Brody. The film tells the story of a unnamed man (for the purposes of this review, referred to as “Guy”) as he travels across the US visiting women from his past.
April 30, 2013 Leave a Comment
IFFBoston ’13 Review: Here One Day
“Here One Day” is an intensely personal first-person documentary by Kathy Leichter that tells the story of Leichter and her family coming to terms with the suicide of her mother, Nina. The film focuses on the effects this tragedy had on Nina’s family and friends, and the things Leichter discovered about her mother in years that followed.
April 29, 2013 Leave a Comment
IFFBoston ’13 Review: The Elders
We live in a society where it’s fairly normal to push our elderly away: family members of advanced age are typically sent to assisted living and nursing homes for care toward the end of their lives, where previously they might have stayed in the home as a respected resource for the younger generations.
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April 29, 2013 Leave a Comment
IFFBoston ’13 Review: Best Kept Secret
IFFBoston is never without films that bring an audience to tears. “Best Kept Secret,” which had its world premiere at the festival, is one of those films: it tells the moving story of a selfless, heroic teacher, out to give the best possible quality of life to her autistic and special needs students as they age out of the system and enter the world.
April 29, 2013 1 Comment
IFFBoston ’13 Review: Much Ado About Nothing
Did you know Joss Whedon loves Shakespeare? I certainly didn’t, so when I first heard about his adaptation of one of Shakespeare’s most popular comedies, “Much Ado About Nothing,” I really wondered what it would be like. I was pleasantly surprised. Using the original Shakespearian language, Whedon sets the story in modern day, and the entire project was filmed in and around his own home in Los Angeles. [Read more...]
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