'Ballet 422' by Jody Lee Lipes

A dance documentary that takes the cake

Ballet 422 is a tease, offering insight into the how, but not the what, of a new ballet.

Tara Lynn Johnson

Jul 21, 2015 · Articles · 2 minute read

‘The Bachelorette’

Is it love, or is it emotional abuse?

How do we tell the difference between love and emotional abuse? The dividing line is not always clear, as exemplified by the relationship between Kaitlyn and her suitors on this season of The Bachelorette.

Naomi Orwin

Jul 12, 2015 · Articles · 6 minute read

The Coen brothers and black cloud movies

Why are we laughing?

Though the Coen brothers didn’t invent the movie genre in which misfortune after misfortune is visited on the protagonist, they have certainly cornered the market.

Ryan Dellaquila

Jul 11, 2015 · Articles · 3 minute read

'Jurassic World'

Nostalgiasaurus rex

In the end, T-Rex doesn’t lose its monster status because of our blasé 21st-century attitude to computer-generated beasts; it becomes a bona fide character through our own nostalgia for its original film incarnation and its evolving role in the action.

Alaina Johns

Jul 04, 2015 · Articles · 5 minute read

Aleksey German’s 'Hard to Be a God'

Where the rain never stops

A modern Hieronymus Bosch, the late Russian filmmaker Aleksey German left us as his last testament a vision of hell for our increasingly dystopic 21st-century world.

Robert Zaller

Jul 04, 2015 · Articles · 5 minute read

Netflix’s ‘Orange Is the New Black,’ Season 3 (second review)

Faith and friendship

Much of the comedy in this season of Orange Is the New Black comes from mixing up the characters. New, unusual friendships make excellent use of the deep bench of supporting characters, many of whom are outcasts or invisible, or have lost their identity to groupthink.

Paula Berman

Jun 30, 2015 · Articles · 6 minute read

Netflix’s ‘Orange Is the New Black,’ Season 3

Complicated ladies in a complicated place

Now in its third season, Orange Is the New Black returns to see the ladies of Litchfield remaining resourceful and optimistic about their incarcerated future, while battling with problems both inside and outside of the prison walls.

Jessica Friedman

Jun 23, 2015 · Articles · 5 minute read

Orson Welles’s 'The Other Side of the Wind'

The best movie never made?

Orson Welles spent 15 years on a movie he couldn’t complete. The legend is perhaps bigger than the film could have been.

Robert Zaller

Jun 20, 2015 · Articles · 5 minute read

Simon Curtis's 'Woman in Gold'

The most brazen theft of them all

Woman in Gold tells one of Hollywood’s favorite stories, justice against the odds. In this case, it happens to be true.

Robert Zaller

May 23, 2015 · Articles · 5 minute read

The end of 'Mad Men'

The cynical redemption of Don Draper

If the purpose of the retreat is to figure out who you really are, how you feel about that, and how to recognize love, then isn’t it an act of radical honesty and self-acceptance for Don to embrace himself as a person who works best when he spins his dreams into brilliant ad copy?

Paula Berman

May 19, 2015 · Articles · 6 minute read