Acting Up Stage Company and Studio 180 have brought something really special to Toronto this month. In the Canadian premiere of the Tony-winning musical Parade, a pared-down company of just 15 takes on the most sprawling story ever told by Jason Robert Brown, one of musical theatre’s most complex and daunting composers. Whatever the Globe […]
First let me apologize for that title, it’s inexcusably bad. But I had to come up with an excuse to talk about The Coen Brothers’ grimy and excellent western True Grit in the same article as the melancholy story of a country western singer Country Strong, which I think is just as well executed, if […]
There are two distinctly British films playing in theatres right now. The King’s Speech, one of Oscar’s top contenders, is a formal high-art story about monarchy, duty and the pressure of expectation. Made in Dagenham is a scrappy, spirited, populist film about factory workers fighting for their rights. The former’s principle plot is centered on […]
The new film adaptation of the Pulitzer Prize/Tony-winning play Rabbit Hole has gotten some excellent reviews. If I were watching this film as an original story, who knows, I might agree with them. But as an adaptation of the remarkable play I saw just a few months ago, the film of Rabbit Hole is but […]
It really is a shame that The Golden Globes, one of the only major award shows that makes a point of acknowledging comedies and musicals, often does such a bad job of it. Academy pretension will most likely keep talented comedy actors like Emma Stone out of the Oscar race, so The Globes is where […]
The Fighter is the latest effort from controversy magnet David O’Russell. Although he may be best known to the general public as being a brief viral sensation thanks to an expletive filled diatribe aimed at Lily Tomlin on the set of I Heart Huckabees . However, I have loved him since his work on the […]
before you read Kelly’s review “Black Swan: hate”, read its counterpart- Rachael’s review “Black Swan: love“ Black Swan has one of the freshest ratings on Rotten Tomatoes’ current chart. It’s got award nominations, critical praise and excellent buzz. And once again I’m left as that weird reviewer over there who just doesn’t get it. (This […]
a review by Rachael Some movies are all about the interaction between the audience and the film. Most comedies are like this. You are meant to react to the movie as yourself, and it is almost as though a conversation is going on between you (as audience member) and the story being told, but you […]