“The white suit, that lighted dance floor, the strut — so many tropes have become part of our shared pop iconography that a lot folks tend to just assume they’ve seen the movie at some point, if only through cultural osmosis. Here’s a good way to tell for sure: If you’re laughing derisively about it, you haven’t watched Saturday Night Fever recently.” – WBUR’s The ARTery, 09/21/2015
“There’s no arc to the story, just bullet-points over two decades. Whitey killed a lot of people and got away with it until he didn’t anymore. The filmmakers have no angle, no larger themes. The depositions haven’t been sculpted into drama. It’s a dull recitation of tired material that will feel like the Stations of the Cross to anyone who reads The Boston Herald.” – Movie Mezzanine, 09/18/2015
Had a great time sitting in with fellow Boston Online Film Critics Association members Kris Jenson and Evan Crean as they tried to talk me into and out of going to see The Visit. We also discussed Grandma, 90 Minutes In Heaven and a whole lotta other random shit. – Spoilerpiece Theatre, 09/11/2015
“A staggeringly uneventful movie made for an audience to which I obviously do not belong. I’m at a loss to convey how little happens during this picture. It’s a film almost entirely devoid of incident. Piper’s book hasn’t been shaped into anything resembling a story. It’s just unfortunate stuff that happened to a guy and then he got over it, eventually.” – Movie Mezzanine, 09/11/2015
TIME OUT OF MIND * * * 1 / 2
Starring Richard Gere, Ben Vereen, Jena Malone, Kyra Sedgwick and Steve Buscemi. Written and directed by Oren Moverman.
“The film is very much what you would expect from a movie directed by Captain America. It’s old-fashioned, a little corny, and almost impossible to resist. Before We Go isn’t a great picture nor even a particularly memorable one. But the bottom line is that I liked spending time with these people. You probably will, too.” – Movie Mezzanine, 09/04/2015
Talking with fellow Boston Online Film Critics Association members Bob Chipman, Steve Head and Megan Kearns about this month’s repertory offerings. The discussion covers children in peril, how much we miss Bernie Mac, the decline of shopping malls in youth culture, and once again I push for a Men of BOFCA calendar. – BOFCA, 08/31/2015
“It’s a crude scene, and damned effective. The rest of No Escape is just plain crude. It’s also a piece of stupid xenophobic trash, released at a time when another piece of stupid xenophobic trash is surging in the polls for the Republican Presidential nomination, so The Weinstein Company might have a hit on their hands.” – Movie Mezzanine, 08/28/2015
“Of interest perhaps only as a glossy bit of Eliot Spitzer fan-fiction, this tawdry tale is presented by co-writer/director Mora Stephens with a cautionary seriousness bordering on hysteria. It feels like one of those alarmist anti-drug films shown in high school classrooms: Just Say No to two-thousand-dollar-an-hour escorts.” – Movie Mezzanine, 08/28/2015
THE MEND * * * *
Starring Josh Lucas, Stephen Plunkett, Lucy Owen, Mickey Sumner and Austin Pendelton. Written and directed by John Magary.
SPLICED PERSONALITY 