I kicked off my Fringe Festival experience in spectacular style with the opening night performance of headlining act Cirque du Fringe, in the Magic Crystal Spiegeltent. First, let it be said, the Spiegeltent is a beautiful venue and completely worthy of the hype it has received. The circus-y vibe of the site is undeniable, with […]
Adam Lubitow
Film critic for CITY Newspaper, writer, iced coffee addict, and dinosaur enthusiast.
Posted inMovies
“Austenland”
Be it in novels, on television, or in the movies, love stories in popular culture have always had the (perhaps unintended) effect of creating unrealistic expectations of what romance should be. It’s this tendency that makes the genre so ripe for a good satirical takedown every now and again. Deflating these idealized notions of love […]
Posted inSpecial Sections
FILM: Cinema paradiso
It used to be that there was a sharp, clear-cut line dividing the popcorn-movie trifles of summer from the highbrow, cerebral films of the fall movie season. But over the past several years, it’s become virtually impossible to distinguish between the two. Sure, there are still plenty of brainy prestige pictures to be found at […]
Posted inMovies
“Ain’t Them Bodies Saints”
There are some films (and filmmakers, for that matter) that wear their influences on their sleeves, unabashedly declaring to which cinematic predecessors its creators are most indebted. There’s nothing wrong with that in and of itself, but the catch is that the director should bring enough of his or her original voice to the material […]
Posted inMovies
Witness Palestine
The Israeli-Palestinian conflict has raged for nearly four decades, and the issue is just divisive today as it was at the start. I’m not for a minute going to pretend that I understand all of the intricacies involved in the conflict, but it’s clear that each side has enough evidence of wrongdoing to keep the […]
Posted inMovies
MOVIE PREVIEW: Greentopia | FILM
Greentopia began in 2011 as a two-day event. Now, just three years later, it has blossomed into a week-long multimedia festival that includes a conference, art exhibits, musical performances, and even a fashion show. Presented by Friends of the GardenAerial, the festival’s purpose is to educate and raise awareness for the environmental issues facing our […]
Posted inArts & Entertainment
“Family Secrets”
In the one-woman show “Family Secrets,” currently on stage at the Downstairs Cabaret at Winton Place, actress Carolyn Michel portrays five different members of one conventionally unconventional family as they struggle to relate to one another and find happiness within their own lives. Originally performed by actress Sherry Glaser and co-written by Glaser with her […]
Posted inMovies
Guess who’s coming to dinner?
There are certain movies that simply demand to be seen with an audience. Comedy and horror films typically benefit the most from a group setting; being able to sit in the dark, screaming, shrieking, and/or laughing your head off alongside a group of perfect strangers undeniably increases one’s enjoyment of a film (it’s for this […]
Posted inMovies
REVIEW: “The Spectacular Now”
Just one month ago, in this very space, I was marveling at the number of teenage boy coming-of-age movies that have been released in theaters recently. It looks as though I spoke too soon, because here comes one more. Luckily, James Ponsoldt’s “The Spectacular Now” differentiates itself from the others, offering a subtle, bittersweet take […]
Posted inMovies
‘The Act of Killing’
Straddling the line between documentary and narrative, exploitation and exposé, the haunting “The Act of Killing” sees filmmaker Joshua Oppenheimer ask the leaders of the notorious Indonesian death squads, responsible for the mass murder of more than 1 million civilians in 1965-66, to recount their most brutal crimes, then allow them the opportunity to re-enact […]
Posted inMovies
“Blackfish”
UPDATED 8/9/13 to reflect a change to the Q&A at the Little. In the provocative new documentary “Blackfish,” director Gabriela Cowperthwaite examines the treatment of orca whales in SeaWorld theme parks, demonstrating the dangers (to both the animals as well as their human trainers) of keeping these fiercely intelligent, but often misunderstood, creatures in captivity. […]
Posted inMovies
“2 Guns”
The first time I saw the poster for “2 Guns,” the new action-comedy from Icelandic director Baltasar Kormákur, a friend pointed it out to me while standing in the lobby of the multiplex, observing that it looked so hilariously generic it seemed to be one of those posters for a fake movie you see in […]
