Remembering Julius LaRosa

More than the guy who was fired on air

Bruce Klauber recalls the life of Julius LaRosa. More than the guy who was fired on air by Arthur Godfrey, more than a second-string Sinatra, "he was a good singer and a good man."

Bruce Klauber

May 15, 2016 · Articles · 3 minute read

Ciro Guerra's film 'Embrace of the Serpent'

Colonized and colonizers meet in the pre-WWII Amazon

In Colombian filmmaker Ciro Guerra's third film, colonized and colonizers meet in the pre-WWII Amazon. An indigenous tribe battles for its survival.

Robert Zaller

May 10, 2016 · Articles · 4 minute read

Ken Burns examines ‘Jackie Robinson’

Let my people play ball

When Jackie Robinson integrated Major League Baseball in 1947, he confronted mindless bigotry, especially in Philadelphia. But some white Philadelphian rejoiced, as I can personally attest.

Steve Cohen

Apr 24, 2016 · Articles · 4 minute read

'The Witch' by Robert Eggers

A special kind of dread

Instead of jump scares, the increasing sense of dread in The Witch arises from the uncertainty of how people are going to behave.

Angela Harmon

Apr 05, 2016 · Articles · 2 minute read

Grímur Hákonarson's 'Rams'

Hard as horns, soft as fleece

Rams draws you in with its vast, cold landscapes and hooks you with a simple story of two old hearts thawing out.

Ryan Dellaquila

Mar 29, 2016 · Articles · 2 minute read

Sundance TV’s 'Hap and Leonard'

Politics and the buddy film

Hap and Leonard depends on the clichéd Hollywood notion that folks at the bottom of the economic ladder are all actually remarkably intelligent, witty, and, under the skin, brothers in capitalistic striving.

Rick Soisson

Mar 08, 2016 · Articles · 3 minute read

Andrew Haigh's '45 Years'

45 years of marriage and a postscript of unanswered questions

45 Years is like a Rorschach inkblot onto which we can project many layers of meaning. We know that Geoff and Kate are stunned and puzzled, but much of what is going on inside each of them is left to our imagination.

Victor L. Schermer

Mar 05, 2016 · Articles · 5 minute read

Inarritu's 'The Revenant'

We are all savages

The Revenant is an example of a microgenre, the Ghost Western, a film in which a tormented white, male protagonist must avenge himself so his ghost can rest.

Paula Berman

Mar 01, 2016 · Articles · 5 minute read

Fox TV's 'Lucifer'

Redeeming the ultimate bad boy

Lucifer is showing promise of something more sophisticated than a simple good vs. evil story set in a flashy fantasy environment. We are seeing a story unfold that questions the very nature of good and evil, and the proper place of both in today’s world.

Gary L. Day

Feb 27, 2016 · Articles · 3 minute read

'Vinyl' on HBO

Deep tracks

Vinyl is Scorsese at his most Scorsese. Unfortunately, the master offers little that we haven’t seen before.

Michael Fisher

Feb 20, 2016 · Articles · 5 minute read