Commentary
The nominees for Best Picture are a deserving lot, except for “The Wolf of Wall Street,” which is a bloated mess of a movie that is an hour too long .
Read More“Criticism will always have the force of the child in the story about the emperor’s new clothes, because there will always be naked emperors who everybody says are wearing today’s Crown Jewels.” — Eric Bentley
Read MoreBrian Carpenter and the Ghost Train Orchestra are not about re-creating either hot jazz from the ’20s or novelty works from the ’30s and ’40s. They’re interested in capturing the spirit that they perceive to be inside these almost-forgotten pieces and using that spirit to make original new music.
Read MoreWithout its many steamy lesbian sex interludes tarting up what could otherwise be classified as a routine narrative, would “Blue is the Warmest Color” have garnered so many rave reviews and prizes?
Read MoreWhy haven’t more movies been made about American slavery? Hollywood studio racism is certainly a prime factor; but even for determined anti-racists, there’s also the aesthetic problem of creating a compelling film drama.
Read MoreCapleton’s cancellation at Boston’s Hibernian Hall shows that reggae stars can’t easily escape their anti-gay discographies.
Read MoreThe late Arthur Danto was open to and appreciative of all sorts of possibilities in art, as other visual arts critics were not.
Read MoreAny book in which the fourth sentence is “The world is not sliding, but galloping into a new transnational dystopia” runs the risk of overstating its case from the get-go.
Read MoreThe opportunity to protest the presence of Tea Party mega-funder David Koch on the board of WGBH this Wednesday should not be missed by anyone who is interested in preserving the soul (and/or sanity) of public broadcasting.
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Fuse Film Commentary: The Decimation of the Independents — Some Solutions
The major film companies must divest themselves of their independent arms (which are anything but independent) and allow a return to the system that was in place for decades until greed and cinematic carpet bagging crushed it.
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