Film/TV

Ewan McGregor in "Trainspotting" (Courtesy)

Final Book In 'Trainspotting' Series Remains A Window Into Transgression And Misogyny

Grim as it was, the first novel was also laugh-out-loud funny, as was the 1996 movie directed by Danny Boyle, starring Ewan MacGregor and Robert Carlyle. The same goes for...

What This Guy's Kickstarter To Remove The Rat From 'The Departed' Says About Fan Culture

That this obviously kidding Kickstarter reached its goal so quickly says something uncomfortable I think about the increasing entitlement of fan culture and an ugly need to claim ownership over...

Our Favorite Oscar-Nominated Shorts This Year

The art of making a good short film is far too underrated. And this year, while there are some standouts, there's a number of nominees I'd just as soon strike...

5 Things To Watch For During The Oscars

For only the second time in its history, the Oscars will commence without a host. Critic Sean Burns tells us what to expect Sunday night.

Boston Filmmaker Roberto Mighty Wants To Show Martin Luther King And Coretta Scott King In All Their Complexity

Part of King Boston's multi-venue effort to memorialize the couple's work and time in the city, Roberto Mighty's 30-minute film is slated to come out in June.

Loose And Pulpy, Asghar Farhadi's 'Everybody Knows' Is A Watchable Old Hollywood-Arthouse Hybrid

The film is very much an Asghar Farhadi movie, which is to say that the plot machinations are all fueled by class resentment and repression, while no good deed goes...

'The Woodland Alchemy,' Premiering At Boston Sci-Fi Film Fest, Rejects How Witches Are Portrayed In Media

Roxie Zwicker's film – an ethereal, dramatic short – gives shows how Zwicker and her friends practice pagan healing rituals.

Fast-Paced And Fleet-Footed, Steven Soderbergh's 'High Flying Bird' Lands At Netflix

The film is an all-around dazzling entertainment that serves as something of a stealth autobiography for a director who doesn’t often put a lot of his personal life into his...

How Sundance And Its Attendees Are Getting More Diverse

At its conception, Sundance created an industry earthquake, bringing independent cinema to mainstream attention. But the festival’s outsized influence obviously hasn't always been to everyone's benefit.

The ARTery

Feb 1, 2019

A restored and colorized image showing a moment from Peter Jackson’s “They Shall Not Grow Old.” (Courtesy Warner Bros. Pictures)

'They Shall Not Grow Old' Makes The Distant Past Feel Incredibly Near

Nothing less than a miracle of bleeding-edge digital filmmaking techniques, Peter Jackson's movie is culled from an archive of century-old, hand-cranked 35mm film shot on the battlefields of World War...

The ARTery

Jan 31, 2019

Frankie Shaw arrives at the LA Premiere of "SMILF" at the Harmony Gold Theater in October 2017 in Los Angeles. (Willy Sanjuan/Invision/AP)

Group Of Mass. Lawmakers Call To Suspend Any Tax Credits For 'SMILF' Until Harassment Probe Ends

State lawmakers want to withhold tax credits from "SMILF" producers until investigations into allegations of on-set harassment and discrimination conclude.

The ARTery

Jan 19, 2019

Tomasz Kot and Joanna Kulig in "Cold War." (Courtesy Lukasz Bak)

'Cold War' Tells A Tumultuous Love Story Against The Backdrop Of The Iron Curtain

A sprawling, three-hour epic crammed into 88 minutes, writer-director Paweł Pawlikowski’s “Cold War” is a marvel of concision.

The ARTery

Jan 18, 2019

Frankie Shaw as Bridgette in "SMILF," Season 2, Episode 2. (Courtesy Mark Schafer/Showtime)

'SMILF' Audaciously Refashions The Boston ‘Tough Guy’ Facade Often Seen On Screen

If you only know Boston by its movies, you'd think it is full of white, thuggish mobster dudes in track suits, but Frankie Shaw's "SMILF" has begun to upset that...

The ARTery

06:36Jan 18, 2019

Daniel Collins in "Hale County This Morning, This Evening." (Courtesy RaMell Ross & Cinema Guild)

Documentary 'Hale County This Morning, This Evening' Pushes The Boundaries Of The Medium

More concerned with sensorial experience than narrative threads, the film is a collection of jagged, fleeting moments adding up to something far greater than the sum of its parts, writes...

The ARTery

Jan 17, 2019

Wayne played by actor Mark McKenna is the star of YouTube's new original series created by Brockton native Shawn Simmons (Courtesy YouTube Premium)

What The New YouTube Series 'Wayne' — Set In Brockton — Says About Teens, Violence And Masculinity

Brockton is the setting for “Wayne,” a new series about a teen vigilante premiering Wednesday on YouTube’s streaming platform. The pilot’s trailer has already attracted more than 10 million views.

The ARTery

07:15Jan 16, 2019

Nicole Kidman stars as Erin Bell in Karyn Kusama's "Destroyer." (Courtesy Annapurna Pictures)

A Nihilistic Crime Story, 'Destroyer' Is Too In Love With Its Own Ugliness

Directed by Karyn Kusama, this is one of those posturing, overwrought neo-noirs in the “True Detective” mode, where everyone’s hyperbolically seedy and predictably corrupt.

The ARTery

Jan 11, 2019

James Gandolfini, Edie Falco and Robert Iler in Season 6 of "The Sopranos." (Courtesy Everett Collection/HBO)

20 Years Ago, 'The Sopranos' Sparked A Golden Age For TV

Creator David Chase’s violent, hilarious and proudly profane family drama all but invented a new kind of cable series — one with serious artistic aspirations, intended for discerning adults.

The ARTery

Jan 9, 2019

MFA film programmer Katherine Irving. (Courtesy)

Katherine Irving Brings Fresh, Collaborative Spirit To MFA Film Program

In many ways, Irving’s approach to presenting films echoes her own process of discovering them.

The ARTery

Jan 4, 2019

Andrew Bleechington, center facing camera, sits in the school cafeteria. (Courtesy CFI Releasing)

Filmmaker Esparza Explores Coming Of Age With No Margin For Error In ‘Life And Nothing More’

Antonio Méndez Esparza’s excellent sophomore effort “Life and Nothing More” offers a working-class reality seldom seen at the movies, writes critic Sean Burns.

The ARTery

Jan 4, 2019

4 Films To See Over The Holidays That Aren't For The Whole Family

With Spider-Man, Aquaman and Mary Poppins returning to movie screens this holiday season, one might wonder where to go and get away from all the children. Here are four ways....

The ARTery

Dec 25, 2018

Morning Edition

Final Book In 'Trainspotting' Series Remains A Window Into Transgression And Misogyny

What This Guy's Kickstarter To Remove The Rat From 'The Departed' Says About Fan Culture

Our Favorite Oscar-Nominated Shorts This Year

5 Things To Watch For During The Oscars

Boston Filmmaker Roberto Mighty Wants To Show Martin Luther King And Coretta Scott King In All Their Complexity

Loose And Pulpy, Asghar Farhadi's 'Everybody Knows' Is A Watchable Old Hollywood-Arthouse Hybrid

'The Woodland Alchemy,' Premiering At Boston Sci-Fi Film Fest, Rejects How Witches Are Portrayed In Media

Fast-Paced And Fleet-Footed, Steven Soderbergh's 'High Flying Bird' Lands At Netflix

How Sundance And Its Attendees Are Getting More Diverse

'They Shall Not Grow Old' Makes The Distant Past Feel Incredibly Near

Group Of Mass. Lawmakers Call To Suspend Any Tax Credits For 'SMILF' Until Harassment Probe Ends

'Cold War' Tells A Tumultuous Love Story Against The Backdrop Of The Iron Curtain

'SMILF' Audaciously Refashions The Boston ‘Tough Guy’ Facade Often Seen On Screen

Documentary 'Hale County This Morning, This Evening' Pushes The Boundaries Of The Medium

What The New YouTube Series 'Wayne' — Set In Brockton — Says About Teens, Violence And Masculinity

A Nihilistic Crime Story, 'Destroyer' Is Too In Love With Its Own Ugliness

20 Years Ago, 'The Sopranos' Sparked A Golden Age For TV

Katherine Irving Brings Fresh, Collaborative Spirit To MFA Film Program

Filmmaker Esparza Explores Coming Of Age With No Margin For Error In ‘Life And Nothing More’

4 Films To See Over The Holidays That Aren't For The Whole Family