… that’s an order. I mean it. If you let awards-ready Sundance hit Whiplash go to wide release without already knowing and loving the work of one of the best young actors in Hollywood, I can guarantee you’ll feel like one of those people who hadn’t heard of Melissa McCarthy until Bridesmaids. From 2010’s Rabbit Hole […]
Showtime’s new drama The Affair is compellingly elusive. At the end of the first hour, not only do we not know why the principal characters are being interrogated, we don’t know where we are, when we are, and, despite having seen the same flashback action play out twice over the course of one episode, we […]
Enemy of the People: an open forum Florian Borchmeyer’s modern adaptation of the Ibsen play An Enemy of the People (translated by Maria Milisavljevic) attempts to instill the 1882 play with new immediacy and contemporary commentary. We’re destroying the earth! Bureaucracy will kill us all! Everyone is corrupt! Resistance is futile! It all works fairly […]
This is a Cabin in the Woods-type movie. I don’t mean a riveting and inventive take on the horror genre (though it is, in some ways, that too; sort of), I mean that to reveal the full premise of this film is to undermine the experience of it. So I’m going to be coy about […]
What a season! Reeling from the backlash against season 15’s controversy-laden and strategically paralyzed group of houseguests, the Big Brother powers that be got it together for season 16. They upped the ante with game-changing twists that actually changed the game, they came up with a slew of fun and interesting competitions and, most importantly, […]
Team Kat Goes on Retreat Playwright/director Kat Sandler’s latest one-act at the Storefront Theatre is a wackier and more wildly comedic entry into her ever-expanding canon of thoughtful, witty work. The story of four interns sent on a camping retreat to compete for a single job at a vague but powerful company, Retreat is a […]
A few of the many many many reasons I didn’t like this production: – Geraint Wyn Davies is one of the least vulnerable actors I’ve ever seen. He reminds me so much of Henry Breedlove (his Slings & Arrows character) when all I want is for Macbeth to be played by Oliver Dennis (not literally; […]
We are now approaching the end of what I am tempted to call “Shakespeare Season” in Toronto. In addition to Stratford’s nearby productions (this year King Lear, Antony & Cleopatra, King John, and two excellent Midsummers), Canadian Stage served up Titus Andronicus and As You Like It in High Park, the Fringe Festival played host […]