It’s been a big year for films of the “and nothing was ever the same after that summer” genre. Between “Mud,” “The Kings of Summer,” and now “The Way, Way Back,” teenage boys have been coming of age all over your multiplex. (I swear I didn’t mean to make that sound quite so filthy…) If […]
Comedy
Posted inMovies
“The Lone Ranger”
As history demonstrates, the law of the conservation of matter applies magnificently to Hollywood, where nothing, it seems, is ever wasted, lost, or forgotten. The Lone Ranger galloped through decades of radio shows, comic books, television series, and movies, yet returns once again, with his faithful Indian companion Tonto and his white horse Silver, only […]
Posted inMovies
“The Kings of Summer”
We’ve all been there: you’re 15, filled with angst, hormones raging, your parents are driving you insane, and you just can’t wait to get the f— out of the house. You’re still a kid, but longing for the sweet freedom of adulthood, fantasizing about finally striking out on your own, away from the rules and […]
Posted inArts & Entertainment
“Twelfth Night”
The combination of Shakespeare, a warm summer night, a lovely green space, fireflies, and a bottle of wine (well, not if you’re reviewing, of course) has been a popular one in Rochester for 17 years, thanks to the Rochester Community Players. The group’s Shakespeare Players shingle presents the Bard’s works throughout the year, but it’s […]
Posted inMovies
“The Heat”
The buddy-cop genre has always been an almost exclusively male club. The plots of these films typically follow a strict formula revolving around two law-enforcement types whose personalities clash upon first meeting, but who must find a way to work together to bring down a big bad, violating the civil rights of every suspect they […]
Posted inMovies
“Much Ado About Nothing”
Most directors faced with a brief hiatus between principal photography and post-production for a gargantuan comic-book blockbuster like “The Avengers” would probably be content to kick up their heels for a bit, take a well-deserved vacation, and maybe, if they’re feeling exceptionally ambitious, start poking around for the next project they’ll start working on sometime […]
Posted inMovies
“This Is the End”
If you’ve grown weary of the Judd Apatow school of comedy — the patented examination of male anxieties in their various forms, starring the usual rotating roster of familiar faces — “This Is the End,” which finds the Apatow players facing down the apocalypse, is likely not going to bring you back into the fold. […]
Posted inMovies
“The Hangover Part III”
The magical number of three helps account for the success of some of the important literary and cinematic trilogies — in literature, for example, the Oedipus cycle, Shakespeare’s history plays about Henry IV and V, Dumas’s volumes about the Three Musketeers, Dos Passos’s “U.S.A.,” Farrell’s Studs Lonigan novels. In the cinema, the most obvious are […]
Posted inArts & Entertainment
THEATER: “A Midsummer Night’s Dream”
For a director, William Shakespeare’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” is always threatening to become “A Midsummer Night’s Nightmare.” The wide-ranging play, currently at Geva Theatre Center, dives headlong into comedy at the same time that it sidles more subtly toward tragedy. The challenge is to give full expression to its contradictory nature yet come away […]
Posted inSpecial Sections
STUDENT SURVIVAL GUIDE ’12: Food and Entertainment
I remember my first week at college, when the dining hall seemed like some heavenly, endless supply of food I could just pick up and eat at any time. That feeling didn’t last. Or, rather, it was replaced by a stomach ache after a few weeks of sundaes, pancakes, and grilled-cheese sandwiches. It’s inevitable: at […]
Posted inArts & Entertainment
Polite Company
Nothing brings out tears, laughter, and the crazy quite like a wedding. Join local sketch/improv-comedy group Polite Company on Saturday, June 16, for its show “A Wedding to Regret” at the Multi-use Community Cultural Center (MuCCC, 142 Atlantic Ave.) Polite Company is the creation of local actor/comedians Karen Craft and Abby DeVuyst, who have been […]
Posted inCulture
COMEDY FEATURE: Funny Business: Where to find comedy in Rochester
The Rochester stand-up comedy scene has been growing recently, in regards to audience size, the number of events, and the caliber of comedians coming to town. While many Rochesterians may not have attended so much as a comedy open-mic night – and there are several that take place every week – Rochester was still able […]
