entertainment
Four new films explore war, gender, and crime true and comedic
“Pressure” ⭐⭐⭐ Rating: 3 out of 4. Who knew that the timing of D-Day was much ado about dueling meteorologists? Obviously, David Haig, whose play about this little-known chapter of the war gets the big-screen treatment in the capable hands of Anthony Maras (the deft thriller, “Hotel Mumbai”) — and Haig, who co-wrote the screenplay. […]
Events this week: Pride, Shakespeare reinvented, & Fresh Pond Day
Thursday, June 4 7 to 9 p.m.First Parish Cambridge Unitarian Universalist, 3 Church St./1446 Massachusetts Ave., Harvard Square. Read more Celebrating youth-based films with DIYDS Eve Plumb book signing$40 with book. Actress, singer, painter and entrepreneur Eve Plumb, best known for portraying Jan Brady in the ABC sitcom “The Brady Bunch,” signs her book, “Happiness Included: […]
Celebrating youth-based films with DIYDS
For teens — especially teens of color or diverse socioeconomic backgrounds — representation on screen can be uninspiring at best, and opportunities behind the camera are next to nonexistent. Thankfully, the Do It Your Damn Self National Youth Film Festival, which screens its yearly showcase Friday at the Brattle Theatre, remains an oasis of youthful […]
Two movies on rules rewritten & rules broken
“Ladies First” ⭐⭐ Rating: 2 out of 4. Speaking of gloriously gonzo, Sacha Baron Cohen, the hot mess (said with respect and gratitude) behind the devilishly caustic “Borat” films, stars in this rom-com-lite, gender-reversal spin with a side of nasty. The movie has a killer cast (Charles Dance, Rosamund Pike, Richard E. Grant, Fiona Shaw, […]
Two new movies grapple with our disorienting, disoriented world
“Backrooms” ⭐⭐⭐ Rating: 3 out of 4. If you’ve ever made a wrong turn in a shopping mall and found yourself in a space not intended for public view, you’ve had the eerie sensation captured by “Backrooms,” the new horror film from first-time director Kane Parsons. The seemingly innocuous setting is Cap’n Clark’s Ottoman Empire, […]
Events this week in Camberville: Pride Patio Party, Celtic art, & Eve Plumb
Thursday, May 28 5 to 9 p.m.Harvard Museum of Natural History, 26 Oxford St., near Harvard Square. Read more Chicken sub and froyo at Saloniki ArtsThursdays: A Free Night at the MuseumsFree and all ages. Experience the world-famous Blaschka Glass Flowers, a new rubies installation in the Earth and Planetary Sciences Gallery and “Swimming with Sharks: […]
Marilyn Monroe centennial, dance horror classics, Demme on (Laser)Disc
This week marks what would have been the 100th birthday of Norma Jeane Mortenson, better known to the world as Marilyn Monroe. More than 60 years after her death, Monroe remains one of the most famous people in the world, her name, face and iconography even more inescapable than during her too-short lifetime. Often overlooked […]
Boosters ‘R Us and a serviceable space opera
“I Love Boosters” ⭐⭐⭐⭐ Rating: 3.5 out of 4. Rapper-turned-director Boots Riley burst onto the movie scene in 2018 with “Sorry to Bother You,” a dystopian comedy about a call-center drone who uncovers a Silicon Valley plot to create a race of “equisapiens” — horse-human hybrids to displace the labor force. The wildly inventive “I […]
Drones, staches & space opera fashion
“I Love Boosters” ⭐⭐⭐⭐ Rating: 3.5 out of 4. Rapper-turned-director Boots Riley burst onto the movie scene in 2018 with “Sorry to Bother You,” a dystopian comedy about a call-center drone who uncovers a Silicon Valley plot to create a race of “equisapiens” —- horse-human hybrids to displace the labor force. The wildly inventive “I […]
Reunite with some classic films
Schools may be letting out, but it’s Reunion Week at the Brattle Theatre, a reliably eclectic annual series of films celebrating their 25th, 50th, or 75th anniversary. The series kicks off Friday with two very different New York classics hitting the big 5-0 this year: Chantal Akerman’s winsome essay film “News from Home” (1976), in […]