Film

Book Review: An Invaluable Testament to When Movies and Criticism Mattered

September 8, 2011
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What drives serious writing about film? “When Movies Mattered” suggests an answer: it helps for a critic to take a side, not as consumer advocate, hipster crank, or box office predictor, but as a passionate advocate for standards, often taking on the role of separating overpraised films from the unfairly neglected.

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Movie Review: Daytime in Paris — A Far Better Movie

September 7, 2011
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The Hedghog’s steady, slow pacing—so rare in any film today—captures the rhythms of haut bourgeois life in Paris and draws out the nuances of how people change and are changed by relationships everywhere. The Hedgehog (Le herisson). Directed by Mona Achache. At the Kendall Square Cinema, West Newton Cinema, and other screens throughout New England.…

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Film Review: Brainstorming the Sweet Potato — El Bulli, The Movie

September 4, 2011
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The film is many things. It is a testament to the restaurant, immortalizing it on celluloid. It’s also a requiem for the restaurant, which you see as it is closing. It’s a manifesto for culinary invention. It’s a tribute to chef Ferran Adrià and what he has wrought, how he has transformed thinking about food. Screens at the MFA tonight through December 30.

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Coming Attractions in Film: September 2011

September 2, 2011
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The beginning of a not-bad fall film season in New England, with some Woody Allen classics, an Iranian melodrama among the youth set, an appearance by a legendary Japanese experimental film maker, and a couple of high-grade action flicks.

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Classical Music Review: Hooray for Film Night at Tanglewood

August 25, 2011
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The Tanglewood team of Morgan Freeman, Gil Shaham, and John Williams served up an evening of memorable performances of music from the movies.

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Film Feature: Nathan the Wise — A Silent Film for Humanity

August 24, 2011
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Thought to be lost, the only existing print of NATHAN THE WISE was discovered in Moscow in 1996. The Coolidge Corner Theater is screening a tinted and beautifully restored version of the film, with an original score by Aaron Trant performed live by the After Quartet.

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Film Review: “Senna” — A Documentary where Raw Sport and Raw Talent Meet

August 21, 2011
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Narrative holes and esoteric tendencies aside, SENNA is remarkable for its feat of compiling what must have been hundreds if not thousands of hours of Formula One footage. The film is surprisingly cinematic and has a vintage, if not sometimes grainy, appearance.

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Movie Review: “Attack the Block” Wimps Out

August 20, 2011
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Despite its entertainment value, ATTACK THE BLOCK ends up shirking its potentially subversive setup for the tried-and-true route of moral redemption and a vapid political stance

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Movie Feature: What’s “The Czar of the Bizarre” Been Up To?

August 13, 2011
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Director David Lynch, “The Czar of the Bizarre,” hasn’t been working on a new, full-length film, but he’s still been busy delivering on his artistic promise to produce that which is Lynchian.

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Film Review: Should We Fear Miranda July’s “Future”?

August 12, 2011
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THE FUTURE, director/actor Miranda July’s followup to 2005’s ME AND YOU AND EVERYONE WE KNOW is brave, unexpectedly poignant and devastatingly sad.

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