Gerald Peary

Book Review: “The Shelf”‘s Splendid Ambition — to Burst Open the Literary Canon

July 23, 2014
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Like me, Phyllis Rose frets about the zillion fine books out there that nobody bothers with. Why their neglect? She reasons that it’s because no one pedigreed has championed them.

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Film Review: Maine International Film Festival — A Model Film Festival on a Modest Budget

July 18, 2014
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So what was so impressive about the lineup of films at the 17th Maine Fest? Catnip for me are 35mm films on the big screen..

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Film Review: “A Coffee in Berlin” — A Funny Film From Germany?

July 11, 2014
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A Coffee in Berlin is described accurately in its publicity as “a slacker comedy.”

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Film Review: Gore Vidal — A Memorable Gadfly That Stung the Left and the Right

June 29, 2014
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The haughty, witty Gore Vidal, my role model, was never happier than when going against the madding American populace.

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Film Review: Charmed by “The Grand Seduction”

June 26, 2014
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The Grand Seduction has some mawkish moments, but it’s still a very sweet movie, skillfully made and charmingly told.

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Film Review: The Good, the Bad, the Mixed at the Provincetown Film Festival

June 25, 2014
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What’s not to adore about this super-friendly, hedonistic, 24-hour street party, what summer resident John Waters celebrates as “a gay fishing village,” and what I might label, oxymoronically, a “queer New Orleans.”

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Film Review: The 40th Seattle Film Festival — American Indie Excellence

June 15, 2014
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Unlike Sundance, where “independent” has been stretched to allow for expensive non-studio movies with slumming Hollywood stars, the films we watched at Seattle were mostly low budget.

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TV Review: “The Normal Heart” — A Decent Update of an Aged Polemic about AIDS

May 25, 2014
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Most of HBO’s “The Normal Heart” is a pretty decent adaptation of the 1985 stage script, with some good things added, including an effective pre-credit section set on Fire Island in 1982.

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Food Review: At Sam LaGrassa’s — Corned Beef, The Essence of Jewish Goodness

May 19, 2014
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The best corned beef in the Boston area by far is, get this, at an Italian lunch joint in Downtown Crossing, Sam LaGrassa’s.

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Film Review: “Locke” — Hell on Wheels

May 15, 2014
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All that WASP self-reliance and fortitude, and I, the Jew, am thinking, “Isn’t anyone getting hungry? Doesn’t anyone want to use the potty?”

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