The 51st Newport Folk Festival ended on Sunday with 35 acts over 3 days. When all is said and done, you could argue that this is no longer a festival about folk music, but two of the elder statesman that appeared this year—Richie Havens and Levon Helm (of The Band fame)—served as an inspiring bridge [...]

By Justin Marble
August 4, “Best of the Oughts” at the Brattle: Putting together a list of the best films of the decade is quite difficult, and putting together a film series might be even tougher. But the Brattle appears to have done a good job, pulling in a mix of Hollywood and indie films for [...]

The remake follows the same plot as the 1984 original, but the new version is more like watching a bunch of twelve-year-old kids in a steel cage death match.
Reviewed by Tom Samph
In a time when baby-faced Michael Cera and whiny John Mayer are cultural icons, Americans still can’t get enough blood and guts. It is [...]

By Justin Marble
June 11–17, Grindhouse films at The Brattle: Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez’s 2007 double feature reignited interest in the campy, cheap, and cheesy B-movies of the grindhouse era. These highly-enjoyable and ridiculous films are an experience unto themselves. With esteemed titles like Black Cobra, Chained Heat, Lady Terminator, and Thrill of the Vampires, [...]

And why [are] men bound beneath the heavens in a reptile form
A worm of 60 winters creeping on the dusky ground. — Tiriel, William Blake
Metropolis. Directed by Fritz Lang. Written by Lang and Thea Von Harbou. With Gustav Fröhlich, Brigitte Helm, Alfred Abel, Rudolf Klein-Rogge, Erwin Biswanger, Theodor Loos, Fritz Rasp, and Heinrich George. [...]

by Justin Marble
May 7, “The Exploding Girl” at Kendall Square Cinema: Zoe Kazan, the granddaughter of famous film director Elia Kazan, won the Best Actress award at the Tribeca Film Festival for her portrayal of Zoe, a young college student who returns home for spring break. While there, her feelings alternate between her longtime, hometown [...]

By J. R. Carroll
The academic calendar winds down in May, but jazz in New England just begins the transition to summer in a month packed with tributes and celebrations.
Substitute vodka for cachaça and you get a caipiroska; mix three Russians and two South Americans and you get Tridos, an intoxicating twist on Latin jazz. They’ll [...]

By J. R. Carroll
Coming Attractions in Jazz for April 2010 unfortunately was washed away by the Waters of March (”It’s the mud, it’s the mud”), but we couldn’t let this year’s Jazz Week slip by without highlighting a few of the numerous events taking place in the Boston metro area from Friday, April 23, through [...]

By Justin Marble
April 4–5, Kurosawa at the Brattle: Every theater in town is screening Kurosawa at some point this month, but my recommendation is for the Brattle on the 4th and 5th for one reason: “Red Beard.” Most everybody has at least heard of Kurosawa films like “Yojimbo,” “Throne of Blood,” “Kagemusha,” and “Ran,” and [...]

Reviewed By Caldwell Titcomb
Yo-Yo Ma is the greatest living cellist. Now 54, he has been playing the cello for 50 years amassing a huge number of awards and other honors along the way. The Celebrity Series coaxed him home from his world-wide touring for a sold-out Symphony Hall recital on March 26 with British pianist [...]