“Ever since his 1984 breakthrough Stranger Than Paradise, Jim Jarmusch has been finding transcendence in stasis and Paterson is nothing if not a movie about the wonders of routine. It’s broken down over a week so the days themselves become like stanzas in a poem, with repeated shots and locations becoming his visual rhyme-scheme.” – WBUR’s The ARTery, 01/18/2017
20TH CENTURY WOMEN * * *
Starring Annette Bening, Elle Fanning, Greta Gerwig, Lucas Jade Zumann and Billy Crudup. Written and directed by Mike Mills.
“One of those movies that’s a lot of fun to watch without being particularly good, The Running Man is a chintzy-looking affair that gets by on stunt casting and a killer concept. Richard Dawson’s sly, self-mocking performance elevates the material, bringing the louche, creepy-uncle energy with which he leered at female contestants on Family Feud.” – Metro, 01/11/2017
BRIGHT LIGHTS: STARRING CARRIE FISHER AND DEBBIE REYNOLDS * * * 1 / 2
A documentary directed by Alexis Bloom and Fisher Stevens. Featuring Carrie Fisher, Debbie Reynolds, Todd Fisher, Eddie Fisher and Griffin Dunne.
“I left a press screening of Hacksaw Ridge four times to complain about the masking. AMC’s reps told me they were ‘working on it and it will be fixed soon.’ They also told another one of my colleagues, ‘Sorry, it’s broken and can’t be fixed.’ This is just how things are now. Chains project movies improperly and straight-up lie to customers. Nobody gives a shit.” – Nashville Scene, 01/05/2017
“Stubbornly unlike anything you’ll find in arthouses today, this severe and intensely challenging picture owes more to Ingmar Bergman’s haunted spiritual crises or Robert Bresson’s austere allegories than any contemporary models. The fact that it exists at all is astonishing, the fact that it’s a big-budget release from a major studio is a miracle.” – WBUR’s The ARTery, 01/04/2017
Had a blast sitting in with fellow Boston Online Film Critics Association members Evan Crean and Charlie Nash to discuss Marky Mark’s exploitative Boston Marathon fantasy, along with some other 2016 what-were-they-thinking lowlights, including Batman V Superman, Suicide Squad, 13 Hours, Arrival, Captain Fantastic and Dirty Grandpa. – Spoilerpiece Theatre, 12/30/2016
“The funniest movie ever made about grieving and the saddest movie ever made about the North Shore. Casey Affleck delivers a performance of such private, inarticulate heartbreak it rivals Heath Ledger’s iconic turn in Brokeback Mountain, throwing up emotional walls that keep getting knocked down by a world that stubbornly refuses to stop spinning.” – WBUR’s The ARTery, 12/26/2016
Talking 2016 with fellow Boston Online Film Critics Association members Bob Chipman, Steve Head, Megan Kearns, Charlie Nash, Evan Crean, Andrew Crump and sleepy Brett Michel. Films discussed: Elle, The Handmaiden, Certain Women, Silence, Green Room, Hell Or High Water, Paterson, La La Land, Manchester By The Sea, Moonlight. – BOFCA, 12/26/2016
PASSENGERS * 1 / 2
Starring Jennifer Lawrence, Chris Pratt, Michael Sheen, Laurence Fishburne and Andy Garcia. Screenplay by Jon Spaihts. Directed by Morten Tyldum.
SPLICED PERSONALITY 