Film
Cinemadope: A Queen and Her Kings
A musician’s life is never easy. I’m not talking about those of us who pick up the guitar now and then, or even the many who, long after it becomes clear that they will likely not move beyond the coffee house or bar circuit, still pack up the Volvo to head out for a...
Blaise’s Bad Movie Guide: ‘Call Me Bwana’ crash-lands
Let’s take a trip in the Wayback Machine to the early 1960s. The British company Eon Productions has just been accorded the honor of producing a series of films based on the Ian Fleming James Bond novels, starting with Dr. No. But there’s a catch. The contract says...
Cinemadope: These New Kid Flicks Aren’t Just For Kids
No Kidding One of the great myths of cinema is that kids movies are for kids. Sure, they might be a bit more brightly colored than most, or hit most of their punch lines a little more on the nose, but never forget that these films are made by grown-ups. Peel back that...
Sisters and Soldiers: New Films This Week
A quiet world, invaded Sometimes it seems like we have always been at war. Whether on a small scale or a world stage, we as a species seem never to tire of hurting each other, and of finding inventive new ways to do it. But perhaps even more depressing than that...
Amherst Cinema Turns Cloak and Dagger
In Vienna Once Quick, name this film: stylish, black and white, set overseas in or around the Second World War, but not about the ground fight in Europe.If you guessed Casablanca, you’re in good company. Michael Curtiz’s 1942 romantic drama, pairing Bogart and Bergman...
Cinemadope: Music! Intrigue! Nuts! Documentary film screenings this week
In this political season, there has been a lot of talk about the meaning — good and bad — of dynasties in our national discourse. The truth is that, for a country that prides itself on its history of flipping the bird to royalty all those years ago, we sure do love to...
Cinemadope: Fallout
Conspiracy Theories “Challenger” will forever be one of those words whose meaning — or at least its history — is immediately known to anyone old enough to have lived through the 1986 space shuttle disaster. That tragic moment, witnessed live by so many American...
Cinemadope: Prince’s Purple Reign
We all have a tendency, as we get on in years, to remember our better days and let the not-so-great times wash away in the river of time. It’s human, and while you might roll your eyes at your great-aunt launching into that same story about sneaking into a Beatles...
Local YouTube Channels You Gotta See: Vulgar Chef, Favor 2 Betty, Richard D. Wolff, more
Among the billions of videos on YouTube, drowned out by commercials for real estate and cars, dwells awesome local content that is nearly impossible to find — unless you know where to look.What’s got 40 pages and some entertaining and/or enlightening channels to...
Cinemadope: Defiant Requiem showing in Amherst
Notes on WarWhen it comes to war and film, there will never be a shortage of stories. Whether tales of daring or death, on the front or at home, war can bring out the best and worst in us, and create lifelong strength — or leave one with lasting wounds. And while we...
Blaise’s Bad Movie Guide: That time The Three Stooges went too far … nyuk, nyuk, nyuk
That time The Three Stooges went too far … nyuk, nyuk, nyuk As Kenny Rogers wisely sang, “You gotta know when to hold ’em, know when to fold ’em.” There have been many performers who have ignored this advice, plodding right along with their careers when they...
Cinemadope: Here and Gone
Small films shown quickly, so see them today Showing movies is a tough racket, and the hard truth of the matter is that an opening weekend can make or break a film’s chances at breaking even at the box office. Do decently out of the gate, and you might get a chance at...
Cinemadope: Swede Hearts, a celebration of the best Bergmans in film: Ingmar and Ingrid
Hear that a local theater is hosting a Bergman festival, and the first thought that will pop into the heads of most art-house denizens will be that of the great Swedish director Ingmar Bergman. An icon for the ages, the director’s films — The Seventh Seal, Fanny and...
Blaise’s Bad Movie Guide: The First Wet, Hot American Summer was so bad, how did it get a sequel?
The first Wet, Hot American Summer was so bad, how did it get a sequel?I’ll let you in on a little secret: the newsroom once had a library of old VCR tapes we all could share. After VCR tapes went the way of the Walkman there was a purge and I snagged Wet, Hot...
Cinemadope: ‘April and the Extraordinary World’ plays this weekend; Longevity serum, missing scientists, and a talking cat named Darwin
Ask people what they like in art, and you might think that all they want is “the real world” mirrored back at them. We hail the Old Masters — their mastery of light and shadow, their ability to make hard marble seem like supple skin. But where would we story lovers be...
Cinemadope: Toot Your Own Horn
It must have been in 1989 or so that I first saw Colors, director Dennis Hopper’s story about police and gang violence in Los Angeles. Set mostly in South Central and East L.A., it starred Sean Penn and Robert Duvall as partnered cops — a rookie and his mentor —...
Cinemadope: Everybody Wants Some!!
Any director worth their salt knows their strengths. Scorsese has New York and the mob; Allen has New York and neurosis; Tarantino has pop culture and cursing; Bergman had Sweden, bleakness, and death. To me, one of the marks of an interesting director — an...
Cinemadope: Let’s Fight – The conflicts of good stories
I’m sure that any first-year film major could tell you more than I can about what makes films tick, but for me, the best of them have always come down to the story of relationships — much like our own lives. Whether it’s He Said/She Said, Axis against Allies, or Harry...
Cinemadope: Have Faith – The Pioneer Valley Jewish Film Festival Returns
Religion and art have a complicated history. Together they’ve been responsible for some of the great masterworks of history — the Sistine Chapel, Chagall’s stained glass, the Dome of the Rock — but they’ve also produced their fair share of eye-poppingly...
Vincent Price is Dr. Goldfoot and I’m in Hell
Oh, how the mighty have diminished themselves. For reasons unknown to man, Vincent Price — the iconic star of such horror classics as House of Wax — decided to appear in Dr. Goldfoot and the Bikini Machine (1965) and its sequel, Dr. Goldfoot and the Girl Bombs (1966)....
Scary Movie Club: The Witch
Distributed by A24In theaters nationwideIn this newest installment of the Advocate’s Scary Movie Club, two staffers — horror movie buff Jen Levesque and total wimp Hunter Styles — finally got to see the highly-reviewed horror flick The Witch last week. Set on a lone...
Review: The Champions
What happened to Michael Vick’s fighting dogs? (Firefly Filmworks) The Champions — a documentary film that follows the pit bulls rescued from famous quarterback Michael Vick’s dog fighting ring in 2007 — will at once devastate your faith in humanity and restore it....
Cinemadope: Piano Man, Marvin Hamlisch’s musical legacy
You don’t have to be a music nerd to know Marvin Hamlisch. Or a theater nerd. Or a film nerd. Or a television nerd. Because even if you don’t know him by name, Hamlisch’s work will have seeped into the soul of anyone who was alive in the latter half of the 20th...
Cinemadope: A Bird in Hand, Sesame Street comes to Northampton
As I sit here in my shirtsleeves, typing away near a slightly open window, I really must insist that readers of this column remember this minor detail: it is February. This is the time when we’re all supposed to be calling all the hardware stores, asking about roof...
Review: The Best and Worst Movie Sex Scenes
Bad sex scenes can be anything from corny to cringeworthy, and some of them really stick. But bad scenes don’t always ruin whole movies. So when it comes to these, just get up, make some popcorn, and come back to the couch in a few minutes. It’ll be over soon. Worst...
Get Out with Staff Picks
Lexi Weege at Fort Hill Brewery • Friday Westfield native Lexi Weege has been making waves in recent years, sharing her enchanting vocals and unashamed lyrics throughout the region, but this weekend she plays at “her favorite place in all of the Valley” — Fort Hill...
Cinemadope: Turkish delight, the unstoppable spirit of youth
Twice in the 1990s, a striking debut made a splash in creative circles. There were, of course, other debuts that have left their marks — Quentin Tarantino’s Reservoir Dogs, for instance, hit screens in 1992, cutting the channel for the coming river of pop...
Cinemadope: Shifting Gears, bikes, cars, and the future
Here in the Pioneer Valley, bikes and biking are part of the fabric of daily life. People come from miles away to roll along the long bike path. Built on an old rail line that stretches across the Connecticut river and connects far-flung towns, the bike path has grown...
Cinemadope: Nerd Christmas
When I do the dishes in our house, I often like to plug in some headphones and catch up on a favorite podcast. One of those podcasts is a new discovery for me, so I’ve been catching up on old episodes during my nightly scrubbing. Most of the time, it doesn’t matter...
Review: Beware the Schlock! Hallmark Holiday Movies
Beware the Schlock! Holiday movies (Hallmark Channel) Admittedly, I’m a sucker for bad movies and, it turns out, bad TV. Case in point: On Thanksgiving, as I settled back to digest the bird, I watched what turned out to be the most boring TV ever: a five-hour film...
Winter is Coming: Holiday Film Traditions
As I sit down to write this column, the calendar is teetering on the edge of December. Thanksgiving may have been unseasonably balmy, but today was the first day all season that I left the house and immediately turned back to put on another layer. When I got back, I...
Hey, Hollywood and Bollywood — how about Valleywood?
When it comes to a homegrown film industry, the Pioneer Valley is hardly Los Angeles, New York, or Boston. But this area is brimming with creative people, and as cameras and film tech become ever more cheap and accessible, young talent is coming up alongside...
Cinemadope: Jennifer Lawrence, then and now
It’s hard to imagine, sometimes, that Jennifer Lawrence’s first listed credit on IMDb — “Mascot” on a 2006 episode of the TV series Monk, by the way — is less than 10 years old. The Kentucky-born actress, still just 25 today, has had a meteoric rise, with her mix of...
It’s the Wizard of Oz
On Saturday, the Mahaiwe Performing Arts Center will host its annual post-Thanksgiving screening of The Wizard of Oz. Since everyone knows the intimate details of this classic, I’m just going to drop a couple of our favorite quotes from the movie: • Dorothy: How do...
Cinemadope: Bond Issue, Daniel Craig makes an old role his own
There was a moment in Apple’s September product announcement event — during which they unveiled the newest version of the Apple TV, their set-top streaming device that brings Netflix, Hulu, HBO and much more to the living room TV set — when designer Jen Folse took a...
Cinemadope: The Social Network, Cuban music and a couple of classics
When I first moved to Northampton in 1997, the now classic Buena Vista Social Club had only recently been released. A collection of Cuban music performed by veterans of the Havana scene, it was a surprise hit that was originally meant to be a showcase for a...
Staff Picks: And the Neighbors, Pink Panther and more
Rhythm Inc With Total Collision • Saturday This Thanksgiving week, Rhythm Inc and Total Collision — featuring members of the Springfield-based Fear Nuttin Band — will remind the Valley we have some awesome reggae-hip-hop fusion to be grateful for. The two groups will...
Cinemadope: Return Tickets, a mainstay reopens in Amherst
When a movie theater closes up shop, it often catches us by surprise. It isn’t that we don’t see it coming; we all know by now about Netflix, Hulu, and Redbox, and how the ever-expanding options of cable television and the Internet have siphoned off some of the...
Greenfield Short Film Showcase
A night of short films from local independent filmmakers, including the world premiere of horror short Girl In The Basement by Jared Skolnick. Here’s the line up: The Answer also by Skolnick — One of the oldest questions is settled. Protesters by Marty Lang — An...
Cinemadope: Autumn film trips in the Valley
Movie fans can be a pasty bunch. Ducking out of the sun to catch a sparsely attended matinee is par for the course — those nearly empty mid-week shows are a welcome respite from the cellphones and chatter of weekend opening nights. Netflix, Vimeo, and the local...
Cinemadope: Busting out. A comedy classic returns.
There’s been a lot of talk lately about the upcoming reboot to the Ghostbusters franchise. Director Paul Feig’s (Bridesmaids) 2016 release is a female-centered take on the story that stars Kristen Wiig and Melissa McCarthy as a pair of old friends who are thrown...
Everyday Vamps
Friday, the Bing Arts Center will host a costume party to accompany a screening of the vampire mockumentary What We Do in the Shadows (rated R). The film, which stars Jemaine Clement, Taika Waititi, and Jonathan Brugh, follows the adventures of four vampires who live...
Review: Evil Dead the Musical
Evil Dead: the Musical Ghost Light Theater, Turners Falls For the first 45 minutes, the crowd clapped for the songs and laugh-groaned at the corny jokes. It wasn’t until Ash, our zombie-fighting hero (played by Joe Van Allen) grabbed a chainsaw and severed his own...
Cinemadope: Scare Tactics, Halloween movies
Of all the holiday movie traditions, it might be that of Halloween that has given us in the film world the most joy over the years. Christmas has some winners, of course, but is often bogged down by moralizing, sappiness, or commercialism. Thanksgiving and New Year’s...
Cinemadope: Smuggling a pile of Tibet to exiles in India
I’ve lived in the Valley for some 18 years now, which is exactly as long as I lived under my parents’ roof. Everything in between there and here — my two homes, each of which, now, has had its own family life — has been a way station, a stop along a longer road. But...
Cinemadope: Octoberfest, a new film festival hits Northampton
We here in the Pioneer Valley love a good festival. Just this year I’ve seen festivals devoted to asparagus, tomatoes, garlic, or one that just throws it all together to celebrate the harvest season. Our small towns have festivals to celebrate their small-towniness,...
Review: We sent a wimp and a horror buff to see the gruesome Green Inferno
The Green Inferno Blumhouse Tilt/Universal Pictures In theaters nationwide Two Advocate staffers — horror movie buff Jen Levesque and total wimp Hunter Styles — saw the controversial horror flick The Green Inferno last weekend. The extremely gory film, directed by Eli...
Cinemadope: Hurts So Good, remembering the ’80s
As much as I love good film — the transformative power of a story well told, the otherworldly experience of settling into the dark as the lights come up on someone else’s dream — there is something to be said for the bad ones out there. To be clear, I’m not talking...
Get In Here! Local Fall Arts Preview
What’s on tap for arts and culture over the next few months in the Pioneer Valley: Party Animals How do you describe The Surrealist Cabaret by the Royal Frog Ballet? You let the frogs do it. From the event’s website, The Surrealist Cabaret “is a walking...
Cinemadope: Beyond the Screen, special shows and a new job for De Niro
One of the great treats of having Amherst Cinema around for so long — it turns 10 next year — is that the programming has had the chance to grow beyond the standard fare that is all too expected of an “art house” theater (a label, I’d guess, the theater itself would...
Cinemadope: Mob Mentality, the Whitey Bulger story
Almost from the get go, movies and crime have been a natural pair. Perhaps it’s the voyeuristic nature of the medium, where to some degree we’re all just looking through a one-way mirror, that draws us to stories of sin and violence — we get all the adrenaline with...
Arts & Culture: Herencia Latina, a celebration of Latino American heritage in the Pioneer Valley
Herencia Latina Pioneer Valley is a celebration of the region’s Latino American heritage. The Pioneer Valley History Network is working in collaboration with Latino organizations, local libraries, museums, and colleges to bring a schedule of programs, activities, and...
Cinemadope: Soul Music, The Beatles in Amherst and an Indian classic
Film fans might remember Julie Taymor’s wide-ranging 2007 movie Across the Universe. It opened to mixed reviews, but one thing it had going for it was the strength of its musical foundation: the bulk of the soundtrack — and indeed the whole arc of the film’s story —...
Cinemadope: Counter Culture, a New York deli thriving in Texas
When I first moved to the Valley in the late ’90s, it was from Brooklyn, where I had spent a few post-college years in a vain attempt at being worldly. I had gone there imagining I would dash off a book and get discovered (not necessarily in that order) and that the...
Cinemadope: Drawing it out, cartoons from other shores
When we talk about animated films here in the States, the conversation often gets stuck in the worlds of Disney and Pixar. Those powerhouse studios and their imitators have largely defined the big-screen cartoon for American crowds, and while their successes have...
Cinemadope: Reel Change, film with a political background
Valley residents have never shied away from political activism. Issues of equality, discrimination, and civil liberty — and the many protests, marches, and rallies that often come with those issues — have always found a wealth of open hearts and open ears here. But...
Cinemadope: Classic Fords
In a few short months — smack in the middle of the holiday season, as it happens — we’ll get the gift of a new Star Wars movie. The hope is that director J.J. Abrams can give the franchise the kick in the pants that it so desperately needs after the disaster of the...
Cinemadope: Fantastic Journey, a franchise rebooted, and a local film
It was just a few weeks ago that this column looked at the resurrection of the superhero movie, something I largely attributed to the success of the Iron Man franchise — its billions in box office provided a sort of force field that allowed other, lesser-known,...
Cinemadope: Summer Camp, the power of blockbusters
As the summer swelters on — as I write this, it is a muggy 78 degrees long after sundown — my thoughts turn to blockbusters. It’s surely no coincidence that the biggest and loudest of our high-gloss spectacles are pushed out during the height of summer. Their promise...E-Edition
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