Maybe it’s just me, but 2005 seemed like a really mediocre year for movies. As a matter of fact, when charged with making a Top Ten list, my mind went completely blank trying to think of films that I especially dug (except for Number 1). So compiling a Best of the Year was more difficult […]
Dayna Papaleo
Posted inMovies
Moving works of art
I was poking around Fabrics & Findings the other day when I overheard one woman say to her coworker, “And a 45-year-old white guy wrote it!” Further eavesdropping confirmed that they were talking about Arthur Golden’s bestseller Memoirs of a Geisha, and since its publication in 1997 critics and readers have all marveled at the […]
Posted inMovies
And good will towards men
“This is a true story but it is filtered through the imagination of a child who was acutely sensitive to the tragic events around him in German-occupied France.” French filmmaker Claude Berri would achieve international renown with arthouse hits like Jean de Florette and its sequel, Manon of the Spring, but for his 1967 film […]
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Choose your weapons
Last seen making the audience extremely uncomfortable during her bit in
The Aristocrats, Sarah Silverman’s one-woman show gets
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A squid, a whale, and a white dog
Coming-of-age movies are easy to relate to because we’ve all done it. Most people have never embezzled $2 million from the mob or been chased through the woods by a homicidal maniac, but at one time or another every one of us has had to grow up (or you were supposed to, anyway). The backgrounds […]
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Find a way tojump over the moon
I’m not a big fan of modern movie musicals. While I can explain the oh-so-subtle nuances of the Munchkins to a 6-year-old and warble neighbor-taxing selections from My Fair Lady, I’ve found recent productions like Moulin Rouge and Chicago to be soulless and smug. As a professional, however, one must approach a film like Rent, […]
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All the normal girls hung on
At the dawn of the 21st century it seemed as though Robert Downey Jr. would be remembered as a cautionary example, just another instance of immense talent needlessly squandered due to an inability to cope. As 2006 looms, however, Downey is at the top of his game. His refined performance in George Clooney’s Good Night, […]
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Tender and true
Some girls are obvious, and some girls are not. The charming and graceful Shopgirl is a tribute to the latter as well as to those with the ability to appreciate the one milling in the corner rather than the one gyrating on the bar. Steve Martin adapted his best-selling novella for director Anand Tucker (Hilary […]
Posted inNews & Opinion
Little changes
Jennifer Caleshu, acting executive director of the Little Theatre, says she’s been fielding phone calls from people interested in taking the helm of the downtown landmark. “I think that for those who might not be in the business, it sounds like a really attractive job,” she says. Caleshu was the associate director when executive director […]
Posted inNews & Opinion
Don’t call them chick flicks
The last few weeks have been grueling… for me. Oh, I’m sure the hardworking people over at the High Falls Film Festival offices have been logging an inhuman amount of hours putting the finishing touches on the festival dedicated to women in film. But I’m really more concerned with myself. Would it kill you programmers […]
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That ain’t no way to treat a lobster
I prefer it when my professionals know more than I do about their chosen field
Posted inMovies
Europeans do it better
How is it that even when working within the limits of a genre, European filmmakers are able to avoid the clichés that ensnare their American counterparts? On its surface, Belgian filmmaker Erik Van Looy’s clever noir The Memory of a Killer is your basic cop-versus-antihero throwdown, but our criminal with a ventricle of gold can […]
