Although we can understand it’s appeal to connoissuers of vulgarity, we’re not a big fan of Amy Schumer’s saucy stand-up comedy. Which is why her performance in “I Feel Pretty” knocked us out. Yes, she’s funny. But in this movie about one woman’s journey of self-acceptance (of her body, of herself), Schumer is vulnerable, brave,...
We regret that the sensationally smart, funny, and illuminating feature film Bodied has a title that offers little clue to what the film’s about. Namely: battle rap. This sub-culture of popular culture is both fascinating and ripe for satire, and the brain trust behind the movie — producer Eminem, writer Alex Larsen and director Joseph Kahn...
The Central Intelligence Agency has earned both renown and scorn for its “secret” programs designed to encourage American hegemony over the rest of the world. For years a tantalizing rumor circulated around the Internet: The CIA was using psychics to perform “remote viewing” of distant targets. The new documentary Third Eye Spies confirms the rumor —...
Few movies combine backwoods professional wrestling, Outer Banks crabbing, and a main character with Downs Syndrome. Few movies are as charming, endearing, and ravishingly human as The Peanut Butter Falcon. Based loosely –very loosely — on Huckleberry Finn, “PBF” charts the unlikely friendship between an escapee from a state-run residential facility (Zack Gottsagen) and a felonious fisherman (Shia...
Drummer, composer, and master sonic collagist Adam Rudolph assembled 40 celebrated musicians from his Go: Organic Orchestra and the Brooklyn Raga Massive. The result, now available on all formats, is an epic, milestone recording called Ragmala – A Garden of Ragas. Beyond category, “Ragamala” is one of those musical projects that’s better heard than described....
If you require additional evidence that the presidency of Donald J. Trump poses an existential danger to the United States of America, read The Fifth Risk, the latest work of journalism from popular author Michael Lewis. This short (fewer than 225 pages), easy-to-follow book profiles several dedicated federal employees in various Departments, including Energy, Agriculture and...
The award-winning documentary Knock Down the House by director Rachel Lears, covers four working-class, “regular” women — a registered nurse, a bartender, a coal miner’s daughter — running for Congress during the 2018 mid-term elections, including the sensationally charismatic, eloquent and inspiring Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez, who, most of us now know, shocked the world by defeating an entrenched...
The impossible is possible. We understand the concept in theory; films like “Free Solo” remind us of the thrilling truth. The movie documents climber Alex Honnold’s attempt to scale Yosemite’s iconic El Capitan cliff face — more than 3,000 feet of virtually perpendicular rock — without ropes, clamps, or nets, using only his claw-like hands,...
The ethereal jazz singer Jeanne Lee would have been 80 this year. A re-release of her duet album with New England Conservatory titan Ran Blake, “The Newest Sound You Never Heard,” more than 40 years after its 1966-7 recording, reveals a thoroughly modern singer unafraid to sound like no one but herself. This vocal individuality...
America’s ongoing oppression of people of color, expressed most viciously in police brutality against unarmed black men, is the subject of director George Tillman, Jr.’s film version of Angie Thomas’s book “The Hate U Give.” (The title refers to a Tupac Shakur lyric riffing on the theme of “you reap what you sow.”) The movie...
Look Within. Ask yourself: What are my core values? If I were President, what positions would I hold? What would my priorities be? Be honest. If, say, self-enrichment and personal convenience is the most important thing to you, own it. If taking care of others is most important, own that. If spending your money on weapons to hurt and kill people you’ll never meet is paramount, acknowledge it. If spending your money on providing a…
Writer, poet, artist, improviser, lyricist, former television personality, and generally decent person.
Although we can understand it’s appeal to connoissuers of vulgarity, we’re not a big fan of Amy Schumer’s saucy stand-up comedy. Which is why her performance in “I Feel Pretty” knocked us out. Yes, she’s funny. But in this movie about one woman’s journey of self-acceptance (of her body, of herself), Schumer is vulnerable, brave,...
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