Film/TV
'Michael' is a troublingly untroubled biopic of the late King of Pop
Partially funded by Michael Jackson's estate and starring one of his nephews, the film presents its subject as a childlike saint sharing his light with the world, hurtling from one...
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...
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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...
'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...
Under new leadership, Boston Underground Film Festival still rejects the status quo
At this year’s 26th annual BUFF, running March 18-22 at the Brattle and Coolidge Corner Theatres, two new co-directors will be at the helm. Horror and genre fans can still...
Old-school celluloid attracts new film fans at indie cinemas
With a little help from Oscar-nominated Hollywood movies like "Sinners" and "One Battle After Another" new fans are flocking to theaters with reel-to-reel projectors.
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...
10 Greater Boston film festivals to explore this spring
As the snow retreats, Boston's film scene awakens with more fests and series happening this spring than will fit on WBUR film writer Erin Trahan's calendar.
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 Coolidge's executive director rolls credits after 13 years in leadership
Katherine Tallman has been the theater’s executive director and CEO since 2013 and steps down on Saturday, Feb. 28. “It really brought out the best in me," she said of...
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...
With 'Pillion,' writer-director Harry Lighton made a film for himself
“I grew up comfort-watching romantic comedies,” Lighton said. “I thought, ‘Wouldn’t it be great if I could comfort-watch a romantic comedy that spoke more to my desires?’”
Emerald Fennell's unsubtle 'Wuthering Heights' intertwines love and death
Starring Margot Robbie and Jacob Elordi, the baroquely stylized film doesn’t stick strictly to Emily Brontë's story, "but even its deviations feel true to the doomy spirit of the prose,"...
Local cinemas celebrate actor Sidney Poitier for Black History Month
Throughout February, the Coolidge Corner Theatre, Somerville Theatre and the Somerville Cine-Club will screen Poitier classics, including "In the Heat of the Night," "Lilies of the Field" and "A Raisin...
Starring Jodie Foster, 'A Private Life' is a character study in the guise of a thriller
The actress plays an American psychiatrist living in Paris. After one of her patients dies, she teams up with her ex-husband to solve what she believes is a murder. The...
John Woo's 1992 action film 'Hard Boiled' is back in theaters
“Hard Boiled” was the grand finale of a revolution in action filmmaking that exploded out of Hong Kong during a brief, glorious period during the 1980s and early ‘90s. It's...