Film/TV

Left to right: Viggo Mortensen, Joel Edgerton, Tom Bateman, Colin Farrell and Thiraphat 'Tui' Sajakul in "Thirteen Lives" (Courtesy Vince Valitutti/Metro Goldwyn Mayer Pictures)

Three films depicting the 2018 Thai cave rescue compete for attention

Ron Howard's "Thirteen Lives," Tom Waller's "Cave Rescue," and Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi and Jimmy Chin's documentary "The Rescue" are all available to stream this weekend. Film critic Sean Burns says...

Arts & Culture

Aug 4, 2022

Boyd Holbrook and B.J. Novak in "Vengeance," written and directed by Novak. (Courtesy Patti Perret/Focus Features)

B.J. Novak on 'The Office,' Boston and his new film 'Vengeance'

The Newton native says he laid out all the most unpleasant aspects of himself in the screenplay and was shocked nearly to death that someone took him up on it....

Arts & Culture

Jul 27, 2022

Denzel Washington and Sarita Choudhury in director Mira Nair's 1991 film "Mississippi Masala." (Courtesy Samuel Goldwyn/Photofest)

1991 love story 'Mississippi Masala' returns to the screen at Coolidge Corner

Starring Denzel Washington and Sarita Choudhry, director Mira Nair’s film follows a rebellious daughter of fiercely proud Indian immigrants who falls in love with a Black man and cultural collision...

Arts & Culture

Jul 22, 2022

The West Newton Cinema. (Jesse Costa/WBUR)

West Newton Cinema may become nonprofit center to support community arts

The owners of the theater want to turn it into a nonprofit center to support community arts and independent films.

Arts & Culture

Jul 20, 2022

Daniel Kaluuya as OJ Haywood and Keke Palmer as Emerald Haywood in Jordan Peele's film "Nope." (Courtesy Universal Studios)

Jordan Peele's 'Nope' is a rollicking alien invasion adventure

The film follows a pair of siblings, Daniel Kaluuya and Keke Palmer, struggling to keep their family's horse ranch afloat when an object appears in the sky and strange occurrences...

Arts & Culture

Jul 20, 2022

Vincent Lindon and Juliette Binoche in Claire Denis’ film "Both Sides of the Blade." (Courtesy of Curiosa Films)

Melodrama 'Both Sides of the Blade' is about the battles between our bodies and our minds

Based on a novel by Christine Angot, who co-wrote the screenplay with director Claire Denis, the film stars Juliette Binoche struggling with feelings for an ex-lover as her marriage cracks...

Arts & Culture

Jul 14, 2022

A still from the 1934 film "It Happened One Night." (Courtesy Sony Pictures)

The Brattle encourages viewers to get 'Lost in America' with film series

The series takes a more expansive view of U.S. interstates with stories of weary, sometimes silly travelers losing their way, including screenings of the 1934 romantic comedy “It Happened One...

Arts & Culture

Jun 30, 2022

Austin Butler as Elvis in Baz Luhrmann's "Elvis." (Courtesy Warner Bros. Pictures)

Less concerned with facts, 'Elvis' biopic focuses on what the singer meant to the world

By turns astonishing and exhausting, Baz Luhrmann's film is “a tacky, towering monolith of gaudy overkill and excess -- as any film about Elvis Presley should rightfully be,” writes film...

Arts & Culture

Jun 23, 2022

Hasan Majuni and Pantea Panahiha in a still from "Hit the Road." (Courtesy Kino Lorber)

'Hit the Road' starts as a comedic road trip film but becomes something more

Writer-director Panah Panahi’s beguiling debut feature follows a mom, dad and two sons on a cramped, chaotic trip during an epic drive across the Iranian countryside, film critic Sean Burns...

Arts & Culture

Jun 22, 2022

Actor Ray Liotta attends the "Marriage Story" premiere during the 57th New York Film Festival on Friday, Oct. 4, 2019. (Evan Agostini/Invision/AP)

The Brattle pays tribute to actor Ray Liotta with 'Something Wild' screening

Liotta's role in the 1986 film "remains one of the great, star-making turns," writes film critic Sean Burns of the late actor, who died in May at the age of...

Arts & Culture

Jun 14, 2022

Conrad Ricamora and Joel Kim Booster in the film "Fire Island," which screens at the 2022 Provincetown International Film Festival. (Courtesy Jeong Park/Searchlight Pictures)

10 film festivals and events to check out this summer

For outdoor moviegoing, drive-ins may have dominated the past two years, but 2022 is more of a blanket-and-chair summer. Film critic Erin Trahan recommends this season's film festivals to explore.

Arts & Culture

Jun 14, 2022

A still from Federico Fellini's "Satyricon." (Courtesy Park Circus)

Harvard Film Archive screens retrospective 'The Complete Federico Fellini'

From June 10 to Aug. 15, the archive will screen a comprehensive compilation of the Italian cinema legend’s entire filmography, “which contains more masterpieces than I can count on one...

Arts & Culture

Jun 9, 2022

The Somerville Theatre's marquee. (Courtesy Marissa Fiorucci)

Somerville Theatre's 70mm and widescreen film festival returns

After a two-year hiatus, the fest returns with pictures presented "the way they were first intended to be seen," writes Sean Burns, with screenings of "The Hateful Eight" and "Spartacus"...

Arts & Culture

Jun 7, 2022

Jack Lowden in "Benediction." (Courtesy Laurence Cendrowicz/Roadside Attractions)

'Benediction' is a boldly stylized biopic of 20th-century war poet Siegfried Sassoon

Director Terence Davies' splendidly scripted film is "a movie madly in love with words in all their pleasures and poisons. It’s about words as weapons, how they can prick and...

Arts & Culture

Jun 3, 2022

A still from "Crimes of the Future." (Courtesy NEON)

'Crimes of the Future' posits a world where self-mutilation has become performance art

Set during an unspecified era when human beings no longer suffer pain or infection, writer-director David Cronenberg's film is mostly concerned with what makes us human and who gets to...

Arts & Culture

Jun 1, 2022

Tom Cruise as Capt. Pete "Maverick" Mitchell in "Top Gun: Maverick." (Courtesy Paramount Pictures)

Tom Cruise rides into the danger zone of solitude in 'Top Gun: Maverick'

The long-delayed film is “a surprisingly emotional experience in its evocation of the title character’s loneliness after a lifetime of burned bridges and breaking all the rules,” reviews film critic...

Arts & Culture

May 26, 2022

RJ Cyler, Donald Elise Watkins and Sebastian Chacon in "Emergency." (Courtesy Amazon Studios)

Film 'Emergency' blends a wild college comedy with dramatic social commentary

The film follows two Black college students during a night of partying on a predominantly white campus who find themselves having to transport a passed-out white girl “across an ocean...

Arts & Culture

May 19, 2022

Linda Manz and Dennis Hopper in "Out of the Blue." (Courtesy Brattle Theatre)

Dennis Hopper's film 'Out of the Blue' is a masterpiece of alienation

The 1980 movie means to be Hopper’s reckoning with the legacy his generation has left for their children. It opens at the Brattle Theatre in a new 4K restoration, “preserving...

Arts & Culture

May 11, 2022

Faye Dunaway in "Mommie Dearest" (1981). (Courtesy Paramount/Photofest)

Celebrating malignant movie mothers at the Brattle and Coolidge

From a screening of “Psycho” to “Mommie Dearest” to “Carrie,” the cinemas are spotlighting memorable matriarchs for Mother’s Day and throughout the month of May.

Arts & Culture

May 6, 2022

Laura Dern in David Lynch's 2006 film "Inland Empire." (Courtesy Janus Films)

Reconsidering David Lynch's 'arduously long' film 'Inland Empire'

“I hated this movie so much it became a running joke among my friends,” writes film critic Sean Burns. But many years down the road, “I’m willing to concede that...

Arts & Culture

May 4, 2022

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Three films depicting the 2018 Thai cave rescue compete for attention

B.J. Novak on 'The Office,' Boston and his new film 'Vengeance'

1991 love story 'Mississippi Masala' returns to the screen at Coolidge Corner

West Newton Cinema may become nonprofit center to support community arts

Jordan Peele's 'Nope' is a rollicking alien invasion adventure

Melodrama 'Both Sides of the Blade' is about the battles between our bodies and our minds

The Brattle encourages viewers to get 'Lost in America' with film series

Less concerned with facts, 'Elvis' biopic focuses on what the singer meant to the world

'Hit the Road' starts as a comedic road trip film but becomes something more

The Brattle pays tribute to actor Ray Liotta with 'Something Wild' screening

10 film festivals and events to check out this summer

Harvard Film Archive screens retrospective 'The Complete Federico Fellini'

Somerville Theatre's 70mm and widescreen film festival returns

'Benediction' is a boldly stylized biopic of 20th-century war poet Siegfried Sassoon

'Crimes of the Future' posits a world where self-mutilation has become performance art

Tom Cruise rides into the danger zone of solitude in 'Top Gun: Maverick'

Film 'Emergency' blends a wild college comedy with dramatic social commentary

Dennis Hopper's film 'Out of the Blue' is a masterpiece of alienation

Celebrating malignant movie mothers at the Brattle and Coolidge

Reconsidering David Lynch's 'arduously long' film 'Inland Empire'