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By | January 01, 0001

Cinema paradisos

As Hollywood's summer fare goes cold, local film festivals heat up
Here's the dilemma: you love movies, but you also love the idea of taking a vacation to one of the many inviting resorts that New England has to offer — the beaches of Cape Cod or the Islands, picturesque towns in Maine or Rhode Island, or even the cultural and historical enclaves of Boston itself.
By PETER KEOUGH | June 16, 2010

Tilda Swinton's mixed metamorphoses

Indie-cinema luminary gets retrospective in P-Town
Most people know Tilda Swinton either from her role as the White Witch in the Narnia movies or as the striking-looking woman who in her speech accepting the Best Supporting Actress Oscar for her performance in Michael Clayton said she was going to give the trophy to her agent. Or perhaps as the actress whom Conan O'Brian said he would like to portray him if there's ever an HBO movie made about his life.
By PETER KEOUGH | June 21, 2010

Review: Oceans

Disney dumbs down nature yet again
Despite the talents of Jacques Perrin and Jacques Cluzaud — the Oscar-nominated duo behind Winged Migration , who once again contribute their amazing, in-the-midst-of photography — the most striking thing about Oceans is its banality.
By TOM MEEK | April 21, 2010

Review: The Secret In Their Eyes

The Academy got it wrong
The Counterfeiters (Austria) won in 2008, Departures (Japan) triumphed in 2009, and in 2010 the Best Foreign Language Film Oscar went to this piece of crap from Argentina.
By PETER KEOUGH | April 14, 2010

Review: The Greatest

Mawkish, clumsy family drama
Carey Mulligan’s Oscar-nominated performance in An Education must have prompted the belated release of this mawkish, clumsy family drama that screened at Sundance 2009.
By GERALD PEARY | April 07, 2010

Oscar predictions 2010: Locker is a lock

Bigelow, Bullock, and Bridges also will win gold
Except for some pipe-dream scenarios in which the 10-nominee/weighted-voting system could turn out a victory for Inglourious Basterds or some other dark horse, everyone concedes that this year's winner for Best Picture and just about every other significant award is — The Hurt Locker ! How did this happen?
By PETER KEOUGH | March 08, 2010

Hanging with The Hurt Locker

Oscars East
Whatever happens at that other film awards gala in Hollywood next month, The Hurt Locker solidified its hold on indie-minded critics this past weekend when it dominated the Boston Society of Film Critics (BSFC) third annual awards dinner. That film's star, Jeremy Renner, was on hand at the Brattle Theatre on Saturday night to accept his Best Actor award, which the BSFC announced back in December.
By TOM MEEK | February 10, 2010

Interview: Patton Oswalt

On staying sharp
For someone who came up as part of the "alternative comedy" scene of the 1990s, Patton Oswalt is becoming increasingly mainstream.
By RYAN STEWART | February 02, 2010

Is there 'hope' in Hollywood?

Three controversial (and sure to be Oscar-nominated) films tackle race in the age of Obama
Buoyed by President Barack Obama's campaign slogan, many had hopes for change after his election.
By PETER KEOUGH | January 29, 2010

Oscar predictions 2010

With 10 Best Picture noms, is Oscar up in the air? Our critic predicts.
After years of shrinking audiences and low-grossing Best Picture nominees, the Academy this year is hedging its bets.
By PETER KEOUGH | January 29, 2010

Review: Amarcord

Fellini's good old days were also the bad old days
In memory, Federico Fellini's 1973 work, an Oscar winner for Best Foreign Film, stands among his masterpieces. But seen today, Amarcord is something of a disappointment, clever and moving in places, but also sprawling, undisciplined, clumsy in patches, and decidedly overlong.
By GERALD PEARY | December 16, 2009

Hardboiled hub

The city’s gritty, criminal underbelly has redefined the dark, artistic vision known as Boston noir
When I was growing up in Roslindale a few decades back — among tribes of ignorant, second-generation immigrant kids whose favorite words began with “f” and “n” and who liked to torture small animals and beat up small children before they moved on to their future vocations as petty criminals, dead dope users, or real-estate agents.
By PETER KEOUGH | October 21, 2009

Review: Paris

What's the French word for Crash ?
Cédric Klapisch's serendipitous interweaving of the lives of disparate characters in the title city never resorts to the contrivance and manipulation of Paul Haggis's Oscar winner, but there are some close calls.
By PETER KEOUGH | September 23, 2009

(10) days of celluloid

From the gridiron to gritty realism at the Maine International Film Festival
Among the many treats at last year's Maine International Film Festival were a future Oscar winner (James Marsh's documentary Man on Wire ) and one of the biggest art-house hits of 2008 (Scandinavian teen-vampire flick Let the Right One In ).
By CHRISTOPHER GRAY | July 08, 2009

Cannes goods

Tarantino, Antichrist , and a well-lit genitalia show; why the French film festival is like no other
Quick — name a world-class film-festival administrator willing to reveal that at age 12 he was titillated by the sight of clodhopper-shod Minnie Mouse stomping on Mickey's tail in a French comic book.
By LISA NESSELSON | May 27, 2009

Review: Pedro

An inspiring life reduced to sound bites, clichés, and hugs
There's no other reason to see the film.
By PETER KEOUGH | April 28, 2009

The moving pictures

David Polonsky and the Festival of Contemporary Animation
There are moments when, by coincidence or an aligning of the stars, something amazing accidentally comes together. Here in Providence, next week is one of those times.
By GREG COOK | April 07, 2009

59. Hugh Jackman

HUGE ASSMAN
You gave Barbara Walters a lap dance. We’ll say it again: YOU GAVE BARBA — no, y’know what? Let’s just roll the tape.
By Boston Phoenix Staff | March 25, 2009

Chazz Palminteri tells the tale

The Bronx is up
You may not recognize actor/writer Chazz Palminteri by name, but you definitely know his face.
By SARA FAITH ALTERMAN | March 26, 2009

Review: Duplicity

Let's just say that Gilroy is no Ernst Lubitsch when it comes to sophisticated, saucy effervescence. Or a Hitchcock, either.
Like Steven Soderbergh in his Oceans series, Tony Gilroy seems to have decided to take a break from making serious movies like 2007's Oscar-nominated Michael Clayton .
By PETER KEOUGH | March 18, 2009

Keough sweeps Oscars

Way better than average
Is our Phoenix film editor good, or what? This past week, Peter Keough predicted six major Oscar categories and earlier went out on a limb and called the two short-subject winners.
By CLIF GARBODEN | February 25, 2009

Live Blogging the Oscars 2009

Follow the Academy Awards in real time with our #Oscars Twitter feed and talk back live!
The Boston Phoenix's Chris Faraone and Sara Faith Alterman go blow-for-blow -- and shot for shot -- as the 2009 Academy Awards unfold live. Plus, follow real-time feedback from fellow viewers on our live #Oscars Twitter feed!
By SARA FAITH ALTERMAN AND CHRIS FARAONE | February 24, 2009