Month: September 2011

Film Review: “Contagion” — Virus infects world, world dies, world loots, scientists try to develop vaccine.

September 10, 2011
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Despite its serious script and premise, “Contagion” is somehow able to retain a subtle element of “fun,” an admirable feat for a movie in which scores of people die in nearly every scene.

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Coming Attractions in Jazz: Fall 2011 Preview

September 9, 2011
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Autumn hasn’t officially arrived yet, but the fall season of jazz is already ramping up. First up are Mexican vocalist Magos Herrera, saxophonist Evan Parker, and a tribute to the late Joe Maneri.

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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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Short Fuse Book Review: “The Eichmann Trial” — Monster & Nonentity

September 7, 2011
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Author Deborah Lipstadt’s decision to confront a Holocaust denier in court prepared her, as little else might have, to appreciate and convey the vastly greater complexity and historical import of the Eichmann trial.

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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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Book Commentary: The Emperor of Lies = The Emperor’s New Clothes?

September 6, 2011
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Should we fictionalize the Holocaust? This is not only a literary question, but a moral one as well, issues raised by the publication of the translation of “The Emperor of Lies,” a novel about the ways in which the Jews in the Lodz ghetto struggled to survive the Nazis.

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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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Theater Review: A “Porgy and Bess” Made For Broadway

September 3, 2011
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The American Repertory Theater’s juggling/removal of the operatic elements in “Porgy and Bess” is clumsy, but the goal is to create a compelling entertainment for contemporary audiences, smoothing out the melodramatic story’s edges and cutting its length.

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Coming Attractions in Jazz: Autumn Festivals

September 2, 2011
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[Updated] The Beantown Jazz Festival kicks off this Friday evening, but the main event fills the afternoon of Saturday, October 24. Check out our recommendations below.

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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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