Baryshnikov returns to the stage
Man in a Case is an adaptation of two of Chekov’s lesser-known tales, “Man in a Case” and “About Love,” currently hosted by the always-improving ArtsEmerson.
Animation with a lesson
The Wind Rises (Japanese: Kaze Tachinu) is yet another stunning film, proclaimed to be the last of master animator Miyazaki.
Love in the modern world
Enter Gloria, brilliantly performed by Paulina García, a joyful charmer who sings along to sappy tunes while driving, a divorced woman on her second wind, adapting to the awkward stage in life when her children start having children of their own and at an age when couples seldom remain married.
Inspirational, humorous, and touching
The Ottawa International Animation Festival is the largest of its kind in North America, bringing the talent, incredible dedication and patience of many crazy creative minds since the mid 70s.
Too predictable, too cheesy
Jack Ryan, a dashing blue-eyed young man eager to serve his country suffers a terrible — and grossly depicted — helicopter accident. While recovering, he falls in love with his nurse, future fiancée Cathy (Keira Knightley). But we all know that. Jack Ryan is a character created by Tom Clancy, previously played by Alec Baldwin, Harrison Ford and Ben Affleck, though this time the story is not based on a Clancy novel.
Turning 30 days to live into seven years
An unrecognizable Mathew McConaughey stars as Texas cowboy and rodeo hustler Ron Woodroof, whose carefree life is forever changed when he is told he is HIV-positive and has 30 days to live.
Light comic relief from four old stars
The movie opens with a glimpse of New York in the 1950s and “The Flatbush Four,” a gang of agile, smart-aleck 10-year-olds who assert themselves after punching, stealing, and getting a cute girl. The movie then fast forwards to their current reality, and we meet four decrepit old men: Archie (Morgan Freeman), who is recovering from a stroke and under the care of an overprotective son; Sam (Kevin Kline), who is the lucky husband of a beautiful, considerate, and permissive wife, but has suffered his share of the quotidian married life; Paddy (Robert De Niro), who is depressed because his adored wife passed away and he has not been able to recover; and Billy (Michael Douglas), a successful businessman who is about to marry a Barbie doll half his age. They are pathetic, and they know it.
Sex, angst, and lesbian love
Blue is the Warmest Color, or La Vie d’Adèle, chapters 1 et 2 in its original French title, is a tender, wrenching, heart-gripping love story about a teenage girl Adèle, her coming of age, falling in lesbian love for the first time, and subsequent devastating heartbreak. A loose adaptation of the graphic novel by Julie Maroh, it is melancholic, raw, emotional, powerful, and yes, it is sexy, but it is the loving that makes it so, the traumatic loving.
From Pineapple Express to…this?
Prince Avalanche was shot in secret, at the request of director David Gordon Green who wanted to return to his roots in independent film after making his last three works with major film studios (Pineapple Express, Your Highness, Eastbound & Down). But, he went too far. Prince Avalanche felt like a graduate film student thesis, with unnecessarily long scenes and increasingly portentous music accompanying events that lead nowhere, or were just arbitrary.
Excitement and comedy, Almodovar-style
Oh, Almodovar: It’s hard not to like you no matter what you do. While definitely not one of his best, I’m So Excited is as deliciously kitschy as bubble gum ice cream.
A child’s dangerous fiction
It has been a long time since I’ve seen a movie that squeezed my heart and had me gripping my armrest, suffocating in the knowledge that my voice can never reach the actor on the screen. And all through the brilliant acting of a psychologically infused small-town drama.
Science-inspired art
CAST’S Spring Sound Series brought to us alumna Julia C. Ogrydziak ’96, a multi-everything artist. Ogrydziak exploited all the goodness MIT had to offer her, and in return, she has made the most out of what MIT gave her. While pursuing a double degree in Physics and Music, she UROPed for a couple of years in the then-called Hyperinstruments Group at the Media Lab, which focused on multi-media and performance. After that, she pursued her interest in design by getting a degree at Harvard’s Graduate School of Design. Phew.
Tattooed stunt-riders and corrupt cops
Epic beyond need, melodramatic, and full of obvious references, to the point where it becomes somewhat patronizing, The Place Beyond the Pines is nonetheless full of beautiful scenes (and actors).
Puritanical about food
Puritan and Co. excites me. It is not in Harvard Sq., and it is not in Central Sq. It is not in the Back Bay or the South End.