Sean Burns
Film Critic
Sean Burns’ reviews, interviews and essays have appeared in Philadelphia Weekly, The Improper Bostonian, Metro, The Boston Herald, Nashville Scene, Time Out New York, Philadelphia City Paper and RogerEbert.com. He stashes them all at www.splicedpersonality.com.
Recently published
IFFBoston's annual spring extravaganza serves 'buffet of films'
Filmed everywhere from Hollywood to Hingham, the 2026 festival lineup includes 40 features and 11 short film programs, as well as the ninth annual Student Short Showcase, which offers a...
Steven Soderbergh's 'The Christophers' is something of a heist film
Ian McKellen stars as a disgraced artist living as a semi-recluse. His greedy adult children hire Michaela Coel to steal his unfinished paintings and complete them so they can be...
This modern take on 'Hamlet' isn't very witty, but it is brief
Starring Riz Ahmed, director Aneil Karia’s film is a ruthlessly stripped-down modernization of the Bard’s tale set in contemporary London’s South Asian community. It keeps the Elizabethan verse and throws...
Wedding comedy 'The Drama' is an audaciously uncomfortable affair
Writer-director Kristoffer Borgli’s screamingly funny film stars Robert Pattinson and Zendaya as a Back Bay couple whose lavish wedding plans are thrown into disarray after a drunken confession. "The film...
Airy and bright 'Miroirs No. 3' is a stealthy interpretation on grief
After a woman witnesses a car accident from her porch, the survivor asks if she can stay with her. The two grief-stricken women develop an arrangement that seems to be...
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'Project Hail Mary' is a strenuously crowd-pleasing sci-fi extravaganza
Adapted from Andy Weir’s 2021 novel of the same name, the film strands Ryan Gosling's disgraced astrophysicist 2,000 light-years from home with a quippy alien sidekick. "The movie is a...
This year, the Oscars are too late
The 98th annual Academy Awards will be held this Sunday, March 15, which is at least a month too late, writes WBUR film critic Sean Burns. "We’ve been talking about...
A feminist 'Bride' for Frankenstein
Writer-director Maggie Gyllenhaal’s gonzo revisionist take on James Whale’s 1935 “Bride of Frankenstein” is a "hellzapoppin’ cacophony of silly ideas and mad movie love, overhauling the queer-coded camp classic into...
The Brattle and Somerville theaters host a wild weekend of movies
The weekend kicks off with "Ultimate Double Feature Weekend" pairing films within films, and culminates with a screening of the unfinished masterpiece "Queen Kelly" that bootlegger and political patriarch Joseph...
Harvard Film Archive presents 'The Complete Stanley Kubrick' and then some
From the controversial "Lolita" to the dark comedy "Eyes Wide Shut," HFA is screening all of the late filmmaker's feature films, early documentaries and two other features he was involved...