by Jack Brown | Sep 22, 2015 | Articles, Arts, Cinemadope, Columns, Film
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...
by Jack Brown | Sep 14, 2015 | Articles, Arts, Cinemadope, Columns, Film
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...
by Jack Brown | Sep 8, 2015 | Articles, Arts, Cinemadope, Columns, Film
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 —...
by Jack Brown | Aug 25, 2015 | Articles, Arts, Cinemadope, Columns, Film
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...
by Jack Brown | Aug 19, 2015 | Articles, Arts, Cinemadope, Columns, Film
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...
