AltWeeklies Wire
From TV to Stage: Claire Danes at the Toronto Film Festivalnew
TV-trained Claire Danes tackled formidable thespian challenges when she was cast as a 17th century Englishwoman who breaks a sexual barrier.
Boston Phoenix |
Gerald Peary |
10-22-2004 |
Profiles & Interviews
Sex Change: Stage Beauty Isn't Just Skin Deepnew
Richard Eyre's Stage Beauty lives up to its terrific subject: the moment in theatrical history where women were finally permitted to act on the professional stage.
Boston Phoenix |
Steve Vineberg |
10-22-2004 |
Reviews
The Man Behind Bushnew
Contrary to White House spin, the man behind Dubya is not God, but Bush's key political adviser, Rove, lurking like Forrest Gump over Bush's shoulder.
Creative Loafing (Atlanta) |
Felicia Feaster |
10-21-2004 |
Reviews
The Watcher: Men Dressed as Women Guarantees Laughsnew
Contestants struggle to master the most superficial aspects of being a woman -- from dealing with bras, walking in heels, planning a wedding, and being a bridesmaid. If the show were called "She's A Guy," girly-girl contestants would undoubtedly learn how to throw a football, barbecue and scratch their balls.
Creative Loafing (Atlanta) |
Heather Kuldell |
10-21-2004 |
TV
Tags: TV
Director Demonstrates How to Make an 'Issues Movie'new
Vera Drake makes a powerful pro-choice argument without resorting to polemical speeches or manipulative villainy. Instead, Leigh's exquisite treatment of character and setting speaks with impeccable moral authority.
Creative Loafing (Atlanta) |
Curt Holman |
10-21-2004 |
Reviews
Tags: Mike Leigh, Vera Drake
Team America Cuts Loose on Warmongers and Peaceniksnew
Team America's testosterone-fueled puppet show swings into cinemas in the nick of time. In a bitter election year marked by blood-sport campaigning and politically scalding motion pictures,Team America arrives as the ideal joke to defuse the tension.
Creative Loafing (Atlanta) |
Curt Holman |
10-21-2004 |
Reviews
Filmmaker's Latest Doc Examines Bitter Hometown Harvestnew
The navel-gazing detective story finds McElwee traveling home again to sort fact from fiction in the family drama of a great-grandfather who created Bull Durham tobacco but lost his entire fortune to business rival James Duke, thus reducing the McElwee family name to a butt in history's ashtray.
Creative Loafing (Atlanta) |
Felicia Feaster |
10-21-2004 |
Reviews
Tags: Bright Leaves, Ross McElwee
Gender Pretendernew
Beneath its historical leanings and classic veneer, this new film is utterly gaga for girls who love boys who love boys. However, it's also marvelous entertainment: witty, wry, insightful, and universal -- like Shakespeare in Love, with more vogueing and buttocks-clenching.
East Bay Express |
Gregory Weinkauf |
10-20-2004 |
Reviews
Tags: Richard Eyre, Stage Beauty
Mother Couragenew
Hanif Kureishi's new drama is an excellent film -- one that feels like life, sharpened to its finest points.
Phoenix New Times |
Melissa Levine |
10-19-2004 |
Reviews
Robin Williams Messes With Memoriesnew
This satisfyingly eerie thriller is concerned with the moral implications of recording entire lives and what those lives ultimately mean once they're edited down into sweet, bowdlerized, easily digested movies.
Riverfront Times |
Gregory Weinkauf |
10-19-2004 |
Reviews
Murphy’s Lawnew
Jack Tanner is back, with Robert Altman and Doonesbury’s Garry Trudeau following up on their 1988 cable mini-series. Tanner on Tanner 2004 is dominated by the exploits of the liberal Congressman's now-30ish daughter Alex, a radical indie filmmaker.
Boston Phoenix |
Gerald Peary |
10-19-2004 |
TV
Tags: TV
Brave and Crazynew
There is no denying that Tarnation is a very brave movie. Rarely is the subject of a documentary willing to lay himself bare before the camera, exposing his very consciousness to the audience, and it's still more uncommon for a director to do it.
What in Tarnation: Will Success Spoil the Filmmaker Savant?new
A macabre family album excavated from the deepest recesses of memory, Tarnation is Jonathan Caouette’s personal history reconstituted as a maelstrom of images and ideas about mental illness, mother love, homosexuality and other ties that bind.
L.A. Weekly |
Scott Foundas |
10-19-2004 |
Profiles & Interviews
The People's Historiannew
At 80-plus, Zinn has the kind of sheen that emanates, spreading cheer even as he exposes the corruption, deceit, and violence that characterize the lion's share of the history he studies. Zinn's beauty is the beauty of righteousness.
Strung Outnew
Team America gets tangled in its own lines.
Boston Phoenix |
Peter Keough |
10-18-2004 |
Reviews
