Film/TV

A still from director Jane Schoenbrun's 2024 film "I Saw the TV Glow." (Courtesy the Brattle Theatre)

At the Brattle, a film series analyzes 'Transness in Cinema'

Trans film critics and authors Caden Mark Gardner and Willow Catelyn Maclay have programmed a pair of double features that present starkly contrasting images of trans characters, from "The Silence...

Arts & Culture

Oct 3, 2024

Nathalie Emmanuel and Adam Driver in Francis Ford Coppola's "Megalopolis." (Courtesy of Lionsgate)

Francis Ford Coppola's messy, maximalist 'Megalopolis'

Set in an alternate universe New York City, the film follows Adam Driver’s tortured genius Caesar Catalina, a blueblood architect and inventor who dreams of rebuilding the city as a...

Arts & Culture

Sep 26, 2024

Maisy Stella and Aubrey Plaza in "My Old Ass." (Courtesy Marni Grossman/Amazon Content Services LLC)

What would you say to your younger self? Two films explore this question

In a funny fluke of the release calendar, Megan Park's "My Old Ass" and Coralie Fargeat's "The Substance" open simultaneously. "One film offers innocuous life lessons, the other results in...

Arts & Culture

Sep 19, 2024

A still from director Stanley Wong's "Future Date." (Courtesy the filmmakers)

11 Greater Boston film festivals and series to check out this fall

From a new series at the MFA to the Newburyport Documentary Film Festival, WBUR film critic Erin Trahan rounds up a slate of events that brings arty cinema to local...

Arts & Culture

Sep 17, 2024

Erin McMurtry (left) and Sarita Choudhury in a still from director Shu Lea Cheang's 1994 film "Fresh Kill." (Courtesy Lona Foote)

The 1994 eco-satire film 'Fresh Kill' returns to the big screen

The Brattle Theatre is the first stop on a 20-city tour for director Shu Lea Cheang's new restoration of her eerily prophetic farce, "a movie both very funny and deadly...

Arts & Culture

Sep 11, 2024

Winona Ryder and Michael Keaton in Tim Burton's "Beetlejuice Beetlejuice." (Courtesy Warner Bros. Pictures)

'Beetlejuice Beetlejuice' is a return to form for Tim Burton

"The return of Michael Keaton’s eponymous vaudeville ghoul is one of this spooky season’s most unexpected pleasures. A visually extravagant and blessedly inconsequential romp boasting a playful spirit we haven’t...

Arts & Culture

Sep 5, 2024

Shelley Duvall and Bud Cort in "Brewster McCloud." (Courtesy Warner Bros.)

A celebration of 'transplendent' actress Shelley Duvall at The Brattle

The nine-film retrospective “Hello, I’m Shelley Duvall,” running from Friday, Aug. 30 through Wednesday, Sept. 4, celebrates the career of this thrillingly unique American actress, who died in July at...

Arts & Culture

Aug 27, 2024

Jason Schwartzman (left) and Carol Kane as Carla Kessler in "Between the Temples." (Courtesy Sean Price Williams/Pictures Classics)

Comedy 'Between the Temples' is a love story amidst a nervous breakdown

Director Nathan Silver's ninth feature stars Jason Schwartzman as a cantor who has lost his voice following the death of his wife. He reconnects with his grade school music teacher...

Arts & Culture

Aug 22, 2024

James Le Gros (left) and Lily Collias in writer-director India Donaldson's "Good One." (Courtesy Metrograph Pictures)

Fantastic film 'Good One' captures the disappointments of adulthood

Writer-director India Donaldson's deceptively simple debut feature sees a 17-year-old girl on a weekend camping trip in the Catskills with her controlling father and his shambling wreck of a best...

Arts & Culture

Aug 15, 2024

Justin Baldoni and Blake Lively in "It Ends with Us." (Courtesy Nicole Rivelli/Sony Pictures Entertainment)

'It Ends with Us' is a soapy fantasy of heartbreak and resilience

Director-star Justin Baldoni’s hotly anticipated adaptation of Colleen Hoover’s beloved bestseller stars Blake Lively as a Boston florist caught in a toxic relationship. The film "leans shamelessly — and not...

Arts & Culture

Aug 8, 2024

Matt Damon and Casey Affleck in "The Instigators." (Courtesy Apple TV+)

Despite the star-studded cast, heist comedy 'The Instigators' falls flat

Director Doug Liman's Boston-set film stars Matt Damon and Casey Affleck as a couple of knuckleheads thrown together for a poorly planned heist job. "Sometimes a movie can have all...

Arts & Culture

Aug 1, 2024

Izaac Wang in writer-director Sean Wang's "Dìdi." (Courtesy Focus Features/Talking Fish Pictures, LLC)

Sean Wang's 'Dìdi' is a wise and funny coming-of-age film

The writer-director's heartfelt and all-too-true tale follows a 13-year-old boy named Chris during the seemingly endless summer before high school begins. The film is set in 2008 in a predominantly...

Arts & Culture

Jul 31, 2024

A still from director Agnieszka Holland's film "Green Border." (Agata Kubis/Kino Lorber)

'Green Border' is a harrowing depiction of Poland's migrant crisis

Director Agnieszka Holland’s film is a "harrowing yet unexpectedly hopeful in its depiction of human decency during the direst of circumstances," writes critic Sean Burns.

Arts & Culture

Jul 25, 2024

Director Sofia Coppola with Rashida Jones and Bill Murray on the set of "On the Rocks." (Courtesy Apple TV+)

The Brattle celebrates summer with Sofia Coppola retrospective

From the staggeringly assured "The Virgin Suicides" to the dream-like "Lost in Translation," the series features all eight of the director's films, screening every Wednesday from July 24 through Aug....

Arts & Culture

Jul 23, 2024

From left, Daisy Edgar-Jones and Glen Powell in "Twisters." (Courtesy Melinda Sue Gordon/Universal Pictures, Warner Bros. Pictures and Amblin Entertainment)

'Twisters' is 'pretty good' for what it is

The “Twister” sequel stars Daisy Edgar-Jones and Glen Powell as a scientist and YouTuber whose teams collide while chasing storms. Film critic Sean Burns writes its "certainly an improvement on...

Arts & Culture

Jul 18, 2024

The cover of Susan Seidelman's new memoir "Desperately Seeking Something." (Courtesy St. Martin's Press)

'Desperately Seeking Susan' director Susan Seidelman reflects on her singular career

Seidelman shares anecdotes from her life in her new memoir "Desperately Seeking Something." She will be at the Brattle Theatre on Thursday, July 18, to sign copies and talk about...

Arts & Culture

Jul 17, 2024

"American Gigolo," starring Richard Gere, kicks off “Hot Summer Nights,” a six-week retrospective showcasing nearly 30 steamy movies from the 1980s and ‘90s. (Courtesy IFFBoston)

IFFBoston is bringing sexy back to the Somerville Theatre

“Hot Summer Nights” is a six-week retrospective showcasing nearly 30 steamy movies from the 1980s and ‘90s, back when sex was still a selling point for mainstream studio pictures.

Arts & Culture

Jul 10, 2024

The West Newton Cinema, pictured in 2020. (Jesse Costa/WBUR)

West Newton Cinema has officially been saved

The West Newton Cinema Foundation drummed up $5.6 million to purchase the movie theater ahead of the Aug. 10 deadline set by the developer that purchased the property.

Arts & Culture

Jul 1, 2024

Left: Dakota Johnson in director Christy Hall’s “Daddio." (Courtesy Phedon Papamichael/Sony Pictures Classics) Right: Zoe Ziegler and Julianne Nicholson in director Annie Baker's "Janet Planet." (Courtesy A24)

'Janet Planet' and 'Daddio' mark the arrival of serious cinematic talents

Two movies by female playwrights making their directorial debuts open in the Boston area this weekend. "Janet Planet” is the first film from Pulitzer Prize-winner (and Amherst’s own) Annie Baker,...

Arts & Culture

Jun 27, 2024

Singer Luther Vandross performs at the Rosemont Horizon in Rosemont, Illinois in 1987. (Raymond Boyd/Getty Images)

What to watch at Roxbury International Film Fest, a celebration of people of color

In its 26th year, the festival offers 10 days of film screenings, panel discussions, live script readings and filmmaker hangouts. "We want to uplift voices, individual stories and organizations that...

Arts & Culture

Jun 19, 2024