Cassie McGrath

May 8, 2008

Pregnant Pause

By Cassie McGrath

The newest edition to the recent slew of pregnancy comedies, "Baby Mama" stars Tina Fey as Kate Holbrook, a career woman who (much like real life) occupies a position of power in a business run mainly by men. Trim, snapp...

March 6, 2008

Like Eating Glass

By Cassie McGrath

As Philip Glass took the stage Sunday night, Campbell Hall was packed and the body heat of the hushed audience was rising. Glass, a soft-spoken man with an absent-minded professor appeal, emerged to announce that there w...

February 14, 2008

All That Glitters

By Cassie McGrath

Sometimes watching a really awful movie can provoke an audience member to ask deep, philosophical questions. After watching 10 minutes of a Jheri-curled, orange, shirtless Matthew McConaughey in the unbearably awful new ...

February 7, 2008

Oh, Angie

By Cassie McGrath

In the bitter cold outside the Arlington on Saturday night, a mob of reporters, onlookers, film festival attendees and random bystanders verged on hysteria. It was 7:40 p.m. and Angelina Jolie was nowhere to be seen. Eve...

January 31, 2008

The Real Ryan

By Cassie McGrath

It is a scientific fact that the astonishingly talented actor Ryan Gosling causes one of two reactions in females: He either renders them speechless or makes them shriek uncontrollably. Waiting in the press line outside ...

October 18, 2007

Oh, Stevie!

By Cassie McGrath

Before last Thursday night's performance at Campbell Hall, I thought that Steve Tyrell might be a good jazz singer.

October 11, 2007

Wild West

By Cassie McGrath

Kanye West is back with his third album in four years, and he wastes no time announcing, "This is my dissertation / Homie this shit is basic / Welcome to graduation." And so we descend into one of the most forward-thinki...

October 4, 2007

God Save the King

By Cassie McGrath

In "King Of California," a bug-eyed, grubby Michael Douglas tries and fails to channel Don Quijote, succeeding only at creating a misguided, self-conscious attempt at quirky indie comedy. .

June 27, 2007

Magnetic Mariane

By Cassie McGrath

The latest depressing pseudo-documentary about current affairs, the Angelina Jolie vehicle, "A Mighty Heart," opens with shots of a sprawling, overwhelming cityscape.

May 31, 2007

Guy Meets Girl

By Cassie McGrath

In "Once Upon a Time," one of the most sincere and moving films to be released this year, two characters - simply called Guy and Girl - discover their mutual musical abilities in a guitar and piano shop.

May 3, 2007

Big Jazz From The Big Easy

By Cassie McGrath

When Irvin Mayfield and the New Orleans Jazz Orchestra took the stage last Friday, the normally stodgy Campbell Hall crowd got a little funky.

April 26, 2007

Against the Grind

By Cassie McGrath

Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez's double feature, "Grindhouse," an exuberant tribute to the lowbrow exploitation cinema of the seventies, begins with a preview of a kitten in neon colors and a warning that this ma...

April 26, 2007

Powerful Poetry

By Cassie McGrath

Internationally acclaimed poet Mary Oliver exuded her trademark quiet spirituality when she sat down for a question-and-answer session in the Multicultural Center after her sold-out reading at Campbell Hall last Wednesda...