“Mitchum was 57 years old and he looked every minute of it; a shambling, still-handsome wreck whose trademark sleepy eyes were sinking deeper by the day. This isn’t the unflappable wiseass Bogart played in The Big Sleep, but rather an older, sadder guy who can’t help but do the right thing and always ends up with nothing to show for it but a broken heart.” – Crooked Marquee, 11/22/2024
Category Archives: Features
WOODY ALLEN IS THE WORST PERSON IN THE WORLD: DECONSTRUCTING HARRY
“A monstrously funny middle finger of a movie that serves as a splenetic lean-in to pretty much every personal and professional criticism Allen has faced throughout his career. It’s a nasty picture, but feels liberating and fresh. Shaking off any semblance of decorum or need to be liked by the audience, the movie is unapologetic, even exhilarating in its rottenness.“ – Crooked Marquee, 11/14/2024
DISGUST MAKES ME LUCID: CATHERINE BREILLAT’S A REAL YOUNG GIRL
”The notorious and oft-banned 1976 debut of writer-director Catherine Breillat is gross, shocking and undeniably the work of a major artist, even when it feels like a work in progress. This fragmented, expressionistic coming-of-age tale depicts a young woman’s pubescence as a sticky, horned-up horrorshow of errant desires and bodily betrayals.” – Crooked Marquee, 11/08/2024
NOIRVEMBER AT THE BRATTLE AND THE COOLIDGE
“You don’t have to be an armchair psychologist to see how such stories spoke to the fears of traumatized men returning from WWII to find women had become more independent in their absence. Much in the way that the superhero movie craze started shortly after 9/11, it’s an American coping mechanism to process our anxieties through pulp.” – WBUR’s Arts & Culture, 11/07/2024
SEVEN SCARY MOVIES TO GO SEE BEFORE HALLOWEEN
”Not even your most sophisticated home entertainment system can replicate the communal feeling of a whole room full of strangers shrieking and screaming at the same time. There are more than 40 frightening films showing at Boston area indie theaters over the 10 days between now and Halloween. Here are a handful of highlights.” – WBUR’s Arts & Culture, 10/21/2024
JUST WHEN YOU THOUGHT IT WAS SAFE TO GET BACK IN THE SHOWER: PSYCHO II
“The world doesn’t want Norman to get well. Characters constantly taunt this sick man as if trying to bait him into living down to their worst expectations. By flipping our perspective to see one of film history’s most famous monsters as a tortured protagonist more sinned against than sinning, Psycho II asks us why we come to see movies like this in the first place.” – Crooked Marquee, 10/18/2024
SMILE FOR THE CAMERA: DE NIRO AND DE PALMA’S HI, MOM!
”This was De Palma’s Godard era, shortly before he pledged allegiance to Alfred Hitchcock. But despite the blackout sketch structure and improv comedy hijinks, Hi Mom! is unmistakably a Brian De Palma picture: endlessly self-reflexive, obsessed with ways of watching and being watched, always implicating the audience in the action with a wicked cackle.” – Crooked Marquee, 10/11/2024
CORPSES, FOOLS AND MONSTERS AT THE BRATTLE
”The authors have taken over programming at the Brattle next week for a pair of double features presenting contrasting images of trans characters. Maclay explained, ‘We wanted the audience to see these films reflected off of one another. By putting them together, you get a full scope of the trans film image we’ve been positing with our book.’” – WBUR’s Arts & Culture, 10/03/2024
TIME IS A PECULIAR ITEM: FRANCIS FORD COPPOLA’S RUMBLE FISH
“Clocks are everywhere in Rumble Fish, looming large and small over the proceedings. The time-lapse shots of whizzing clouds that begin the picture return with a vengeance throughout, speeding their way through windowpane reflections to remind us just how quickly the world is passing these characters by, and that time is running out for Rusty James.” – Crooked Marquee, 09/20/2024
THE ICEMAN COMETH: PIPE DREAMS OF THE AMERICAN FILM THEATER PROJECT
”A fascinating hybrid of stage and screen. Despite some striking, classically Frankenheimer compositions, it’s always very much a recording of a theatrical performance. At no point does it feel like you’re watching an actual quote-unquote movie. But you are watching The Iceman Cometh starring Lee Marvin and Robert Ryan, and that’s sure as hell something.” – Crooked Marquee, 09/13/2024









