And then there were 10. No, not by a process of elimination, but by inflation. I’m talking about the new, probably not improved, look for the Academy Awards, with its revised voting dynamic for best picture. Not only are there 10 nominees for the top Oscar, but members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences will be ranking their 10 choices, with number one choices … [Read more...]
This ‘Valentine’ is too sweet even for the day
Who wouldn’t want to live in the antiseptic fantasyland of Garry Marshall’s Valentine’s Day? Ostensibly set in Los Angeles on Valentine’s Day, it’s a world in which women wake up in full makeup, irate motorists yell obscenities like “heck,” airport guards shrug off security breaches if the breacher is an attractive young romantic, and the meteorologists tap-dance the weather … [Read more...]
‘The Maid’: Compelling portrait of a breakdown
Severe mental illness or run-of-the-mill midlife crisis? This is the debate posed by Sebastian Silva’s The Maid, which opens Friday in Lake Worth and Lake Park. This compelling Chilean drama, which won a jury prize at Sundance last year, explores a character of complex interiority: a dowdy, middle-aged, live-in maid for an upper-crust family of five, whose mental and physical … [Read more...]
Soloists shine for Judd’s return in ‘Messiah’
Annual performances of George Frideric Handel's oratorio Messiah at this time of year are always of the so-called Christmas portion, that close-to-half of this Easter piece that touches on the birth of Jesus. In his return to area podiums for the first time since 2001, former Florida Philharmonic director James Judd leads performances of the entire oratorio, as he did in his … [Read more...]
Organist Unger offers strong, diverse recital
Sunday, Nov. 23, 2008 For the average listener, there are many neglected rooms in the mansion of music, and one of those rooms holds music for the organ. This is unfortunate primarily because there is a rich and fascinating literature for the instrument, and on Sunday afternoon one of its rising young practitioners showed an audience at the First Presbyterian Church in Delray … [Read more...]