“The ‘annual sensory bacchanalia from beyond the mainstream’ is back at the Brattle Theatre, once again bringing the wildest, weirdest and most outré offerings to a loyal area audience with nerves (and stomachs) of steel. McControversy promises that ‘all the extreme isolation and paranoia of the past two years’ will be well-represented in the program.” – WBUR’s The ARTery, 03/21/2022
“It’s a war movie for people disgusted by war, fed up with battlefield myths about valor and noble sacrifice. It’s about cheating and breaking bullshit rules and killing the enemy in cold blood because you can and because you have to. It’s a movie where death is ugly and everywhere and only the meanest, most irredeemable sons of bitches survive, if they’re lucky.” – Crooked Marquee, 03/18/2022
“A much better Texas Chainsaw Massacre tribute than that wretched thing on Netflix last month and way smarter about slasher movies than the recent Scream sequel, writer-director Ti West’s X is a deliciously grisly entertainment existing on a level of craft well above most multiplex offerings, genre or otherwise. It’s smart filmmaking, blessedly content to be a blast.” – North Shore Movies, 03/18/2022
“If only they knew when to leave well enough alone. Alas, Moore is so hell bent on ripping the rug out from underneath the audience he winds up negating everything we’ve been emotionally invested in for the sake of silly shock value. You should go see it and leave five minutes early, because the surprise ending is one of the stupidest things I’ve ever seen.” – North Shore Movies, 03/18/2022
“It’s become increasingly depressing to watch Gibson giving his all in such sorry vehicles, making it hard not to reflect on the brilliant career he couldn’t help himself from ruining with his loathsome personality. Considering the talent involved, Panama feels like a dreadful squandering of resources, but at least nobody appears to have wasted much money.” – North Shore Movies, 03/18/2022
“Travolta and Cage have made more bad films than most stars of their stature, but the lineup Judge put together contains one cultural phenomenon after another. Saturday Night Fever, Moonstruck, Grease, Valley Girl, Raising Arizona and Pulp Fiction have become part of our shared pop consciousness. They’re movies you feel like you’ve seen even if you haven’t.” – WBUR’s The ARTery, 03/14/2022
“In a genre where women were subject to all sorts of abuse, she was a fox who fought back. But what made her even more fun to watch is how much she looked like she was enjoying it. With that crooked curl of her naughty smile, Pam Grier always seemed to be having an even better time than you were watching her. It’s why crushes on her are still so contagious.” – Crooked Marquee, 03/04/2022
“A darker, even grittier reboot of many already dark and gritty reboots, The Batman is seriously serious business, sorely lacking in levity or light switches. This very special episode of CSI: Gotham tries to mimic all the moves from David Fincher’s Seven, but has more in common with junky ‘90s knockoffs like The Bone Collector and Kiss The Girls.” – North Shore Movies, 03/03/2022
“Is Sebastian Stan the dullest actor working today? Director Mimi Cave’s Sundance selection is another attempt to play against the actor’s blandly handsome, TV doctor looks, but the film feels more like an exercise than anything else. It’s one of those midnight movies for festival audiences to talk about over breakfast and then forget about before lunch.” – North Shore Movies, 03/03/2022
“Often called the Thinking Man’s Sex Symbol, Vitti was less ‘va-va-voom’ in her appeal than Italian starlets of the era like Loren or Magnani. High cheekbones and a patrician air made her the perfect frontwoman for Antonioni’s adrift elite: absurdly wealthy, spiritually bankrupt wanderers who have everything and are slow to realize how little that really is.” – WBUR’s The ARTery, 03/01/2022
SPLICED PERSONALITY 