STAR WARS: THE LAST JEDI * * * *
Starring Mark Hamill, Daisy Ridley, Adam Driver, Oscar Isaac and Carrie Fisher. Written and directed by Rian Johnson.
Author Archives: Sean Burns
THE WORLD OF BOB FOSSE AT THE HFA
“The first time I saw All That Jazz I was zonked on cold medicine with a high fever and afterward figured I must have hallucinated most of it. The movie is a geyser of flowing images, often cut counter-intuitively against the beat of the soundtrack songs and following movements and transitions that defy linear logic while making perfect emotional sense.” – WBUR’s The ARTery, 12/13/2017
BOFCA AWARDS BALLOT 2017
1. A Ghost Story 2. Phantom Thread 3. Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri 4. Lady Bird 5. The Florida Project 6. First They Killed My Father 7. BPM (Beats Per Minute) 8. The Beguiled 9. Marjorie Prime 10. Lucky
Honorable Mentions: After The Storm, Alien: Covenant, All These Sleepless Nights, Colossal, Columbus, Get Out, Good Time, Jane, Logan Lucky, Long Strange Trip, The Lure, Nocturama, On The Beach At Night Alone, The Post, Their Finest – BOFCA, 12/08/2017
THE SHAPE OF WATER
“Enchanting and annoying in equal measures, this perversely adult fairy tale plays like a collection of the filmmaker’s private fetishes spackled over with an unconvincing coat of feel-good whimsy. The Shape Of Water is one of those peculiar movies that clearly means a lot to the person who made it, but leaves the audience stranded on a distant shore.” – WBUR’s The ARTery, 12/08/2017
WONDER WHEEL
“Such self-plagiarism is nothing new for Woody Allen, who these days mostly seems to be mixing and matching scenes and themes from his previous pictures more out of habit than inspiration. Wonder Wheel runs down a checklist of the filmmaker’s tired pet obsessions while occasionally playing like a parody of post-war Broadway miserabilism.” – WBUR’s The ARTery, 12/07/2017
THE BREADWINNER
“The evocative animation sticks to bold, simple line drawings, my favorite design belonging to a massive hulk of an adult figure who becomes an unlikely ally to Parvana. I was captivated by how much director Twomey is able to convey by the fashion in which he slices fruit, a pause in his process bringing one of the film’s most unexpected emotional payoffs.” – North Shore Movies, 12/07/2017
DO YOU STILL LIKE THEM APPLES: GOOD WILL HUNTING AT 20
“You look at every role and everybody gets their big monologue, their show-stopping piece. It’s how you write a script when you want to attract big stars. You have Robin Williams on the bench, Minnie Driver talking about her dad, everyone gets their Oscar clip. It also created this ridiculous Boston caricature that only two guys from Cambridge could write.” – Boston.com, 12/05/2017
THE DISASTER ARTIST
“It’s very entertaining, borrowing bits of Bowfinger and of course Ed Wood while putting a happy face on our misfit moviemakers and their oversized dreams. What it doesn’t do is probe the darkness bubbling underneath all the bungling. The movie meticulously re-creates The Room’s most famously botched scenes, but shies away from its tortured soul.” – WBUR’s The ARTery, 12/01/2017
ROMAN J. ISRAEL, ESQ.
ROMAN J. ISRAEL, ESQ. * *
Starring Denzel Washington, Carmen Ejogo, Amanda Warren, Hugo Armstrong and Colin Farrell. Written and directed by Dan Gilroy.
HANKSGIVING AT THE BRATTLE
“‘I’ve been thinking a lot about Hanks in relation to the silent comedians,’ the Brattle’s creative director Ned Hinkle explained. ‘He’s like Buster Keaton but with a face made of rubber rather than stone. His commitment to the physical comedy is astounding, but from the very beginning he was able to connect with the real emotions that drive these characters.'” – WBUR’s The ARTery, 11/20/2017
SPLICED PERSONALITY 