THE ASSIGNMENT * * 1 / 2
Starring Michelle Rodriguez, Sigourney Weaver, Caitlin Gerard, Anthony LaPaglia and Tony Shalhoub. Screenplay by Denis Hamill and Walter Hill. Directed by Walter Hill.
Author Archives: Sean Burns
BOFCA REPERTORY PODCAST: APRIL 2017
Talking with fellow Boston Online Film Critics Association members Bob Chipman, Greg Vellante, Evan Crean and Charlie Nash about this month’s repertory offerings. Topics include double-shots from Cronenberg and Lynch at the Coolidge, the Arrival-esque shittiness of Robert Zemeckis’ Contact and going to the movies when you “got tired” beforehand. – BOFCA, 04/01/2017
GHOST IN THE SHELL
“The searching, philosophical qualities of the original have been tossed aside in favor of bold-stroke, blockbuster battles between good and evil, less concerned with what it means to be human than with showing Friday night audiences a grand old time. As far as dumb action movies go this is a great-looking one, but it should have been so much more.” – North Shore Movies, 03/31/2017
IT’S KIND OF A STURBRIDGE VILLAGE THING: ACCOMPANIST JEFF RAPSIS
“Remember, these films were made when the only place to see them was in a theater, usually with a lot of other people. To really understand why people first fell in love with the movies, you need to put Humpty Dumpty back together again and recreate the whole experience: the big screen, the live music, and, most importantly, the shared experience of the audience.” – Metro, 03/31/2017
THE BLACKCOAT’S DAUGHTER
THE BLACKCOAT’S DAUGHTER * * * 1 / 2
Starring Emma Roberts, Kiernan Shipka, Lucy Boynton, Lauren Holly and James Remar. Written and directed by Osgood Perkins.
WICKED QUEER 2017
“Set in a dystopian future where a peaceful socialist revolution did nothing to quell the battle of the sexes, Lizzie Borden’s notorious 1983 mock documentary Born In Flames follows a group of radical black lesbians forming a Women’s Army in the streets. Co-star Jeanne Satterfield will lead a discussion following the screening. You will have questions.” – Metro, 03/30/2017
SONG TO SONG
SONG TO SONG * 1 / 2
Starring Rooney Mara, Ryan Gosling, Michael Fassbender, Natalie Portman and Cate Blanchett. Written and directed by Terrence Malick.
TWO BY HERZOG AT THE COOLIDGE
“In this increasingly digitized culture it can be difficult for our over-mediated eyes to determine what’s ones and zeroes, until you see a film like Fitzcarraldo and experience once again the shock of the real. It’s granular detail on a massive scale, with images full of intricacies not even the most sophisticated F/X effects department could conjure.” – Metro, 03/24/2017
T2 TRAINSPOTTING
“What T2 lacks in trauma it makes up for in an exhausted spiritual malaise that knocked this writer for a loop. I doubt the film will work nearly as well for anyone who didn’t have a poster of these guys hanging on their dorm room wall, but it’s viscerally deflating to see how these icons of the ‘Cool Britannia’ generation grew up to be such sad-sack losers.” – WBUR’s The ARTery, 03/23/2017
PERSONAL SHOPPER
PERSONAL SHOPPER * * *
Starring Kristen Stewart, Lars Eidinger, Sigrid Bouaziz, Anders Danielsen Lie and Ty Olwin. Written and directed by Olivier Assayas.
SPLICED PERSONALITY 