“The wonder of it is that a then-76-year-old Hollywood legend could still go so hard, helming an independently financed, proudly NC-17 shocker in which the star of Showgirls fellates a fried chicken leg with her face busted open. What makes Killer Joe so appallingly funny is Friedkin’s rowdy, good-time approach to the sickening material.” – WBUR’s Arts & Culture, 11/11/2026

“Notoriously played by Nicolas Cage as a pompadoured tsunami of hormones and adolescent anxiety, Charlie is one of the actor’s great gonzo turns. Much to his leading lady’s horror, Cage based Charlie’s voice on that of Gumby’s pal Pokey and wears an oversized dental prosthetic throughout the picture, exhaling his lines in an adenoidal whine.” – Crooked Marquee, 11/06/2026

“While there’s something to be said for curling up on the couch under a blanket to watch scary movies, being frightened at home alone can’t compare to screaming along with hundreds of strangers in the dark. A benefit of living in one of the greatest repertory cinema cities in the world is that the month of October is stuffed silly with big-screen fright-fests.” – WBUR’s Arts & Culture, 10/29/2026

“‘It’s daunting,’ admitted longtime Somerville Theatre manager and new co-owner Ian Judge, who will be celebrating his 25th year at the venue next May. ‘But we see this as a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to save these theaters for future generations. We’ve got great customer support, so I feel like the trajectory is good. This is like a weird little miracle to me.’” – WBUR’s Arts & Culture, 10/23/2026

“Shot for under a million dollars, this is the dingiest-looking fairy tale you’ve ever seen. Yet there’s an air of enchantment amid the tenements and garbage. Doo-wop singers serenade the city by the light of trash can fires. Avildsen is constantly reminding you how small these people are, positioning them at the end of long, lonely streets lined with run-down row houses.” – Crooked Marquee, 10/23/2026

“Longworth is taking over programming at The Brattle as part of a 15-city tour promoting The Bisexuals, the latest season of You Must Remember This. The series introduces us to Libby Holman, a 1920s torch singer with a racially ambiguous stage persona and a voracious sexual appetite that didn’t so much transcend gender boundaries as disregard them entirely.” – WBUR’s Arts & Culture, 10/22/2026

“Lost on Ebert and other pearl-clutchers at the time was the movie’s seriousness of purpose. For all its shocking content and garish excesses, The Devils is a pointedly political picture about how shame and religion are weaponized by the wealthy and powerful to advance their economic interests. It may be more relevant today than it was in 1971.” – WBUR’s Arts & Culture, 10/15/2026

“All these missing pieces and moveable parts are hardly seamless. But the fragmented quality becomes key to the movie’s nightmarish effect. Othello’s world is falling apart around him, and it feels like the film is as well. We see Iago lead him down, down, down a byzantine maze of columns, canals and liminal spaces as the green-eyed monster takes hold.” – Crooked Marquee, 10/09/2026

“A blessedly inconsequential story of four girls with three days to put together an act for their school talent show. Yamashita’s languid pacing and stately wide shots conjure a dreamy, deadpan alchemy of lazy afterschool (in)activities and naps, the kind of wonderful, wasted time that only feels precious in retrospect, when there’s no more of it left to spare.” – Spliced Personality Substack, 09/29/2026

“Cinematographer Surtees shoots the picture in harsh, high-contrast black and white, a strategy that replicates the glare of the spotlight. You can feel Fosse’s kinship with the comic as a fellow creature of show business, reveling in the bottom-rung dressing rooms and the backstage camaraderie of musicians and show-people talking trash and shooting junk.” – Crooked Marquee, 09/25/2026