Film: I have little patience for horror films, so I almost skipped seeing A Ghost Story, which would have been a big mistake. Yes, it sounds like a spooky tale of spectral jolts, but instead it turns out to be a psychological study of the afterlife, reassuring in its affirmation of the beyond. Director David Lowery gathers an A-list cast headed by Casey Affleck and Rooney Mara, … [Read more...]
Film in 2016: The year’s 10 best
Whether it was because of the commotion over last year’s all-white Oscar nominations or simply a coincidence of the pipeline, this year’s top film crop has several entries with racial themes and likely African-American nominees in the performance categories. Here, in descending order of quality – as judged by my highly subjective opinion – are the best of 2016: … [Read more...]
Weekend arts picks: Dec. 3-4
Theater: Frequent patrons of the Maltz Jupiter Theatre already know of the remarkable talents of Matt Loehr (three-time Carbonell Award winner for Crazy for You, The Music Man and Hello, Dolly!), but this physically comic song-and-dance man has never been better showcased than in Me and My Girl, the Maltz’s latest production knockout. This British musical from 1937 follows the … [Read more...]
‘Manchester by the Sea’: Enduring grief, finding grace
Throughout Manchester by the Sea, women fall, sometimes literally, at the feet of Casey Affleck’s brooding handyman. While on the job — albeit in the unromantic pursuit of unclogging a toilet — he overhears a client confessing her attraction to him, on the phone to a friend, through the bathroom walls. It leads to nothing more than a generous tip. At a bar, a comely female … [Read more...]