Review

Film Review: “Soundtrack to a Coup d’État” — The Freedom of Jazz, Manipulated in the Cold War

January 11, 2025
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This is a chilling tale of the (last) Cold War, and footage of Teslas and iPhones serves as a potent reminder that the struggle for global natural resources, in the Third World and beyond, continues.

Film Review: “The Last Showgirl” — The End of the Old Razzle Dazzle?

January 10, 2025
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Let’s hope that “The Last Showgirl” launches a new phase in Pam Anderson’s career.

Film Review: “Pepe” — The Afterlife of a Hippo

January 9, 2025
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“Pepe” is an immense achievement: one of the most formally and politically radical narrative films to turn up on the international festival circuit in 2024.

Concert Review: The Boston Artists Ensemble Plumb the Hidden Depths of Mozart

January 8, 2025
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When performed with this high level of polish and poise, even Mozart’s darkest music can make you smile.

Film Review: “The Damned” — Horror on Ice

January 8, 2025
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“The Damned” is a perfect little ice-cold January horror gem blending historical, psychological, and folk chills into a bleak midwinter’s tale to keep you up through the longest nights of the year.

Jazz Album Reviews and Commentary: Jazz Composers’ Omnibus 2024, Take 2

January 8, 2025
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In four (more) projects from 2024, jazz-oriented composers supply some of the decade’s best music so far.

Book Review: “Zeppo: The Reluctant Marx Brother” — He Wasn’t an Underachiever

January 7, 2025
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Biographer Robert S. Bader is an engaging writer and meticulous researcher. And handy here, he’s able to be tactful, but not forgiving, when describing lousy human behavior.

Book Review: “Mood Machine” — In the Mood for Manipulation

January 7, 2025
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Some rugged individualists may want to break out of the corporate cycle of dependency. If they do, they might even come across music they love that they would never have dreamed existed in the Spotify universe.

Book Review: “Carceral Apartheid” — Prisons Made to Degrade

January 7, 2025
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Brittany Friedman’s hope is that awareness of the racism she describes — in particular the abuse and corruption that she found in the prisons of California — will encourage readers to “take a critical view of society and examine the dark side of the state.”

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