FREE FIRE * 1 / 2
Starring Brie Larson, Armie Hammer, Sharlto Copley, Cillian Murphy and Jack Reynor. Screenplay by Amy Jump and Ben Wheatley. Directed by Ben Wheatley.
Author Archives: Sean Burns
THE FATE OF THE FURIOUS
“You’re always aware this is a mercenary product that has no real reason for being except to make more money and more Furious movies, collecting characters and co-stars like a lint-roller while putting them into increasingly absurd and strangely weightless vehicular cataclysms. It’s got the lugubrious, nothing-matters quality of eighties Bond films.” – North Shore Movies, 04/15/2017
FIRE WALK WITH ME AT THE COOLIDGE
“There’s a way to read the cryptic supernatural elements as Laura’s imagination of an evil that’s at least easier to understand than her father’s abuse, but in typical Lynch fashion he leaves interpretations up to the audience. The movie’s doom-laden orgies and strobe-lit screams attain a hypnotic grandeur that’s pulverizing when seen on a giant screen.” – Metro, 04/13/2017
COLOSSAL
COLOSSAL * * * 1 / 2
Starring Anne Hathaway, Jason Sudeikis, Austin Stowell, Tim Blake Nelson and Dan Stevens. Written and directed by Nacho Vigalondo.
TWO BY CRONENBERG AT THE COOLIDGE
“Both pictures hinge upon their star’s rare ability to engage an audience while playing cards close to his vest, and the films are fraught with doppelgangers and doubles, characters and scenes designed to serve as distorted mirror images of one another. Cronenberg depicts violence as a virus, infecting the pastoral settings and perverting formerly idyllic interactions.” – Metro, 04/07/2017
AFTERMATH
AFTERMATH * *
Starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, Scoot McNairy, Maggie Grace, Hanna Ware and Martin Donovan. Screenplay by Javier Gullon. Directed by Elliott Lester.
SALT AND FIRE
SALT AND FIRE * *
Starring Veronica Ferres, Michael Shannon, Gael Garcia Bernal, Volker Michalowski and Lawrence Krauss. Written for the screen and directed by Werner Herzog.
AFTER THE STORM
“This insistently compassionate filmmaker has spent the past twenty-odd years crafting the kind of modest, humane dramas that even indies have all but abandoned. Kore-eda films aren’t sexy or controversial, but in their small, observational ways offer unexpectedly complete emotional journeys. When they’re over, you feel like you’ve been somewhere.” – WBUR’s The ARTery, 04/05/2017
THE ASSIGNMENT
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.
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
