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    Not such a wonderful placeNot such a wonderful place:  The 19th annual Boston Jewish Film Festival
    The Boston Jewish Film Festival has always been more about the tenuous experience of that global community than about great films.
    By: MICHAEL ATKINSON


    Buzz wordsBuzz words:  TV’s ‘A’ star makes a bee movie
    I’ve had several brushes with Jerry Seinfeld.
    By: LLOYD SCHWARTZ


    Southie rulesSouthie rules:  Dot Ave goes to Hollywood
    In Brad Gann’s film Black Irish, Tom Guiry plays a seething blur of Southie rage named Terry.
    By: MIKE MILIARD


    Mighty CaseyMighty Casey:  The younger Affleck holds forth
    Good Will Hunting — in which they played siblings — fixed the public perception of Casey Affleck as Ben’s younger brother.
    By: COLE HADDON


    Funny framesFunny frames:  The films of Michael Haneke at the HFA and MFA
    The seemingly endless final shot of Michael Haneke’s CACHÉ|HIDDEN might have shocked some viewers into an almost forgotten skill: watching.
    By: PETER KEOUGH


    Darjeeling unlimitedDarjeeling unlimited:  Wes Anderson talks about India, Owen, and the short
    Movie miniaturist Wes Anderson (The Royal Tenenbaums, Rushmore) expands his horizons in The Darjeeling Limited.
    By: GARY SUSMAN


    Dark new waveDark new wave:  Contemporary Romanian cinema at the HFA
    Every now and then, it happens: a new wave from where?
    By: MICHAEL ATKINSON


    Cinema of sufferingCinema of suffering:  The Palestinian Film Festival and the films of Pedro Costa
    Film, like most arts, tries to turn misery into entertainment.
    By: PETER KEOUGH


    Non-starterNon-starter:  Opening night at the 23rd Boston Film Festival
    George Clooney’s Hub stopover this past Saturday night  was designed to draw attention to the 23-year-old Boston Film Festival.
    By: BRETT MICHEL


    Armies of the lightArmies of the light:  Norman Mailer’s primal screen at the HFA
    Maybe the trauma of another intractable war has sparked the movies’ recent interest in ’60s headliners.
    By: PETER KEOUGH


    Cutting edgeCutting edge:  Cronenberg’s twisted mirror
    Some who’ve watched the on-line videos of al-Qaeda executions may suffer a shock of recognition at some images in Eastern Promises.
    By: PETER KEOUGH


    War zonesWar zones:  Fall films face terror at home and abroad
    The party’s over. Time for the lessons to begin.
    By: PETER KEOUGH


    Rough justiceRough justice:  Ousmane Sembene spans the continental divides
    Hollywood has adopted a gentler, more insidious colonialism in regard to Africa.
    By: PETER KEOUGH


    Twenty-first-century syndromesTwenty-first-century syndromes:  The “New Crowned Hope” series at the MFA
    Simon Field and Keith Griffiths, who commissioned the series, found four directors who responded to the call with brilliant films.
    By: CHRIS FUJIWARA


    Delpy daysDelpy days:  Julie finally makes her movie
    If anyone deserves to make her own movie, it’s Julie Delpy.
    By: PETER KEOUGH


    Kong makerKong maker:  Seth Gordon learns the rules of the game
    Seth Gordon’s The King of Kong poses a microcosm of America. A very tiny microcosm.
    By: PETER KEOUGH


    Wise assesWise asses:  Some words with the class clowns of Superbad
    With all the star power being trotted out in this summer’s would-be blockbuster comedies, how likely was it that the best would be Superbad?
    By: CHRIS BRAIOTTA


    Michelangelo AntonioniMichelangelo Antonioni:  1912–2007
    It seems inherently wrong to be writing an obituary for Michelangelo Antonioni, who died July 30 in Rome, just a day after we lost Ingmar Bergman.
    By: JEFFREY GANTZ


    An Italian feastAn Italian feast:  ‘Signore + Signore’ isn’t just about the ladies
    A group of performers — especially one unified by gender and culture — is an unconventional focus for a film series.
    By: STEVE VINEBERG


    Heroes of our timeHeroes of our time:  From Bond to Bourne, the good guys (and girls) buck the system
    In interviews promoting The Bourne Ultimatum, Matt Damon has argued that his Jason Bourne has supplanted James Bond as the hero of our time.
    By: PETER KEOUGH


    Ingmar BergmanIngmar Bergman:  1918–2007
    Ingmar Bergman, who died Sunday, was one of the last of the great world filmmakers who came to fame around the mid century and changed the face of movies.
    By: STEVE VINEBERG


    Dirty politicsDirty politics:  Has the Right Wing hijacked raunch?
    The last resort of the true patriot is a fart joke.
    By: PETER KEOUGH


    Start the revolution without meStart the revolution without me:  History lessons in 12:08 East of Bucharest

    To judge from recent movies from that country, everything in Romania is going to pot. Except Romanian movies.


    By: PETER KEOUGH


    Recycled WatersRecycled Waters:  Third time around, Hairspray still flows fresh
    John Waters’s Hairspray, which marked his descent into an undistinguished gentility, is not even 20 years old.
    By: CHRIS BRAIOTTA


    Comme ci, comme çaComme ci, comme ça:  No wave in sight at the Boston French Film Festival
    The menu bops between feel-good indies and full-on commercial fare, with a few seasoned auteur numbers thrown in like rosemary twigs.
    By: MICHAEL ATKINSON


    Sales pitchSales pitch:  Seven products in search of a movie

    By: PETER KEOUGH


    Toys are usToys are us:  Transformers puts the commercial back into cinema
    Transformers is a movie in disguise.
    By: PETER KEOUGH


    In sickness and in healthIn sickness and in health:  The Sicko director takes his own pulse
    Michael Moore seems a little down on himself.
    By: PETER KEOUGH


    Notes from undergroundNotes from underground:  Celebrating independents at the HFA
    Although it hardly seems likely in a summer of noisy, box-office-busting sequels, independent cinema thrives, after a fashion, in America.
    By: PETER KEOUGH


    Bruce Willis lets looseBruce Willis lets loose:  On the Die Hard films, Paris Hilton, and what scares him
    In the middle of my conversation with Bruce Willis at the Four Seasons, the lights inexplicably go out and we’re plunged into darkness.
    By: SHARON STEEL


    Keeping It RealKeeping It Real:  Sticking to the facts in a post-9/111 world, Michael Winterbottom and Paul Greengrass lead a new breed of filmmaker
    We’ll get used to it, I suppose, this new category of moviegoing distress. Sooner or later, we get used to everything.
    By: JAMES PARKER


    Cinema of ShadowsCinema of Shadows:  We’re five years into the Iraq crisis, and Hollywood hasn't made a film about the war. Or is every film is about the war?
    It’s not likely, but Judd Apatow’s pitch for Knocked Up might have sounded something like this.
    By: PETER KEOUGH


    Counting SheepCounting Sheep:  Charles Burnett at the MFA
    Lyrical, contemplative, with a clear disdain for mainstream Hollywood, the African-American filmmaker Charles Burnett has cobbled out an unorthodox career.
    By: STEVE VINEBERG


    F*** The Commitments?F*** The Commitments?:  Glen Hansard and John Carney hold forth
    Glen Hansard has a number of dedicated fans.
    By: BRETT MICHEL


    The girls of summerThe girls of summer:  The season for blockbusters, sequels, and . . . great roles for women?
    It’s summer, so no one’s surprised at the onslaught of sequels, adaptations, or even movies based on toys. But films with Oscar-caliber women’s roles?
    By: PETER KEOUGH


    Fast forward filmmakingFast forward filmmaking:  Taking part in the 48-Hour Film Project
    You wouldn’t think that spending six hours thinking about a tree elf is an exhilerating way to spend a Friday night. 
    By: SARA FAITH ALTERMAN


    Glee and venomGlee and venom:  Lacerating Harold Pinter at the Harvard Film Archive
    Of the great modernist playwrights, Harold Pinter has had the most intimate relationship with film.
    By: MICHAEL ATKINSON


    HindsightHindsight:  Rear Window is model for Hollywood’s latest trend, a fear-inspired peep-a-palooza
    “I’m not much on rear-window ethics,” quips Grace Kelly in Alfred Hitchcock’s 1954 masterpiece.
    By: PETER KEOUGH


    Gay abandon?Gay abandon?:  The edge has gone from the Gay and Lesbian Film Festival
    Has gay cinema become a mere ghetto nowadays, of interest to its sexual demographic and no one else?
    By: MICHAEL ATKINSON


    Zombie sheep?Zombie sheep?:  Plus Donkey Kong, the Super Amigos, and ‘the greatest film of all time’ at the IFFB
    After a top-notch first two days, the Fifth Independent Film Festival of Boston weathers some ups and downs through the remainder of its schedule.
    By: PHOENIX FILM STAFF


    Thelma and Marty do the CoolidgeThelma and Marty do the Coolidge:  Schoonmaker and Scorsese in Brookline
    It was hard to tell who was more excited about the presence of Martin Scorsese and Thelma Schoonmaker at the Coolidge Corner Theatre Thursday night.
    By: SARA FAITH ALTERMAN


    Everyday heroesEveryday heroes:  Alternative cinema lives at the Independent Film Festival of Boston
    Despite the name, independent cinema has grown conventional.
    By: PETER KEOUGH


    History as melodramaHistory as melodrama:  Jewishfilm.2007
    Nations lie about the past.
    By: PETER KEOUGH


    Hollywood SquareHollywood Square:  Dept. of Old Ideas
    First Al Gore, now Rick Santorum.
    By: MIKE MILIARD


    Turkey callTurkey call:  From genius to genre at the Boston Turkish Film Festival
    Turkey’s chances of getting into the European Union may be fading, but its role as a rising star in world cinema looks secure.
    By: PETER KEOUGH


    Home for dinnerHome for dinner:  Dorchester’s ‘tough guy’ grows up
    Before I even get my tape recorder turned on, Mark Wahlberg stands to greet me.
    Shooter: Republicans get gunned down. By Brett Michel

    By: BRETT MICHEL


    Curiously refreshingCuriously refreshing:  Digging deep at the Boston Underground Film Festival
    The pickings this year at the ninth Boston Underground Film Festival are relatively slim.
    By: PETER KEOUGH


    Québec libreQuébec libre:  Michel Brault and Claude Jutra at the HFA
    The rise of the Quebec movie industry coincided with the awakening of French-Canadian cultural and political consciousness in the late ’60s.
    By: STEVE VINEBERG


    Hong Kong rhapsodyHong Kong rhapsody:  Ann Hui at the HFA
    Ann Hui came to the Hong Kong film industry after working in television, where she made both episodic dramas and documentaries.
    By: A.S. HAMRAH


    Spring loadedSpring loaded:  Working out the kinks
    It’s spring, and Hollywood has to get the kinks out of its system before it can focus on the business at hand: the sequels of summer.
    By: PETER KEOUGH


    Horror scopeHorror scope:  Robert Graysmith’s Zodiac obsession
    When watching a serial-killer movie, I always suspect the person investigating the case is the culprit.
    Doing time: Fincher kills it without frills in Zodiac. By Peter Keough

    By: PETER KEOUGH


    Before there was DarfurBefore there was Darfur:  Around the world
    With the US bogged down in Iraq and anti-American sentiment sweeping the globe, it’s hard to find an affirmative story about our country’s place in the world.
    God Grew Tired of Us: A devastating and uplifting documentary. By Tom Meek. 

    By: TOM MEEK


    Natural GassNatural Gass:  Ian Maisel interviews Tenacious D's Kyle Gass

    By: IAN MAISEL


* *
BLOGS
  Funny Gamesmanship
posted at 7:18 PM / 10.26.2007
  Terror campaign
posted at 6:23 PM / 10.24.2007
  More Lust, More Caution: Ang Lee II
posted at 6:11 PM / 10.10.2007
  Cautionary tale: Lee on "Lust"
posted at 4:38 PM / 10.5.2007
  Women with guns
posted at 6:00 PM / 10.2.2007
  Character "Assassination"
posted at 6:42 PM / 9.21.2007
  Battle fatigue: has the Iraq film surge already fizzled?
posted at 6:25 PM / 9.18.2007
  Reasons Why "Blackout" Is More Exciting Than "In Rainbows"
posted at 5:14 PM / 10.23.2007
  Freezepop
posted at 5:24 PM / 10.18.2007
  Since it is the "#1 Comedy on Television!"
posted at 2:22 PM / 10.18.2007
  Ashlee Simpson's 80s Prom Birthday Party
posted at 1:37 PM / 10.18.2007
  The Art Issue de-evolution
posted at 2:51 PM / 10.16.2007
  Spice Girls get their undie freak on
posted at 1:34 PM / 10.16.2007
  Ugly diamond bras
posted at 12:06 PM / 10.16.2007


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