A Satisfactory Catharsis: ‘Inside Out’ is a Good Time

Imagination can be a wonderful thing, depending on how it’s applied. If you muck it up, you end up with something that seems cool, but in reality, you realize that someone fell asleep behind the con...
read more

Jurassic World: Life Will Always Find a Way to Bite You in the Ass

Whether or not the Jurassic Park die-hards hate this movie and the average blockbuster junkie loves it, I think we can all agree on one thing: It could have been a lot worse. For one thing, you’d th...
read more

‘Bloody Poetry:’ Punk, Poetry and Eccentricity

Not exactly the headline you were expecting, was it?  And we weren’t either; “Blood Poetry” takes an unexpected angle and turns its characters into anachronisms: Percy and Mary Shelley, Lord Ge...
read more

‘Mad Max’: Burning Man meets the Blues Brothers in Fury Road

Seriously. Holy motherfreakin’ crap. The thing about car chases is that they’re a common staple of action movies and it’s very difficult to make them seem fresh and new. George Miller’s fourth...
read more

“Age of Ultron” Gives Us What We Expected And Not Much Else

Like the Hulk, I feel I have two sides: one that wants to say how fun “Avengers: Age of Ultron” was and recommend that everyone see it. The other half thinks, “CRITIC SMASH!”  As much as I’...
read more

“Danny Collins” Isn’t Original, But Who Cares?

This movie is like a roller-coaster. No, it’s not full of twists and turns; instead, you know exactly what you’re going to get before it’s all over. But it’s still a lot of fun to go on the r...
read more

New Sean Astin Film Barely Scratches “The Surface,” Spoiler Alert!

The surface of Lake Michigan is tepid, slow and without a hint of danger. Oh, the irony. Starring Sean Astin (“The Lord of the Rings”) and Chris Mulkey, “The Surface” is a well-shot and ballsy...
read more

Woyzeck: A Good Musical Like This is Hard to Find

The original version of Georg Büchner’s tragi-comedy Woyzeck was left unfinished on account of the author’s untimely death. And thus, for the past century and a half, the play has been molded in ...
read more

Nick Frost: Conversation with a Zombie Slayer, Alien Fighter and Bad-Ass Cop

If you’ve been asked who Nick Frost is, chances are you’ve shook your head in confusion before being told, “You know, the fat guy from ‘Shaun of the Dead’ and ‘Hot Fuzz?’” Suddenly, yo...
read more

Kirk Cameron and More “Honored” at 35th Golden Raspberry Awards

The Academy Awards are the most prestigious awards for film in the world. Actors, directors and writers dream of getting onstage and exposing their faces to millions who would otherwise not give two ...
read more

Fifty Shades of Grey: Still a better love story than….actually, not really

Finally, it’s here. The mommy-pornographic, masturbatory, former Twilight fanfiction fantasy hit that has taken the sexually-frustrated world by storm: “Fifty Shades of Grey,” the movie. Now, to...
read more

Directors Given Prestigious Honors at SBIFF Chazelle, Linklater, Miller, Poitras and Tyldum Reflect at Arlington

The Outstanding Directors of the Year tribute event was admittedly more low-key than one would imagine. While there was certainly a long line to get into the Arlington, there weren’t any screaming f...
read more

SBIFF Awards Steve Carell at Ceremony Looking Back on his Career

“Woo! Steve!” shouted someone way in the back of the Arlington Theatre. In one of the front rows, the man of the hour himself shot up in his seat, turned around and yelled, “Hey! Quiet!” in tr...
read more

South Korean Thriller “Confession” Debuts at SBIFF

Everything that can go wrong, will go wrong. -Murphy’s law
read more

Documentary “Caffeinated” is Stimulating, Fresh

Ironic story: right before I went to see this documentary, I sat on a State Street bench, catching up on my Gothic literature reading. I yawned, and some random man passing by me said, “You should g...
read more