by Jack Brown | Feb 23, 2018 | Articles, Cinemadope, Columns, Film, Newsletter
It’s always been a point of pride at Amherst Cinema that they are no mere movie house. Plunked down right in the heart of the town’s downtown, flanked by coffee spots and park greens, the theater has always been something of a community hub. Perhaps it would have been...
by Jack Brown | Feb 19, 2018 | Articles, Cinemadope, Columns, Newsletter
The dust may finally be settling on the latest Super Bowl — at least outside of Philly — but for film fans, it’s the coming weeks that are the lead-up to the biggest contest of all: the Oscars. The 90th Academy Awards ceremony is set to go off on the first Sunday of...
by Jack Brown | Jan 29, 2018 | Articles, Cinemadope, Columns, Newsletter
A few years back, I spent most of my weekends running around Western Mass as part of an acoustic jazz band. We played parties, weddings, and a lot of restaurant gigs, but the place I was always happiest to see was the welcoming porch of Elmer’s Store in Ashfield....
by Jack Brown | Jan 22, 2018 | Articles, Cinemadope, Columns, Newsletter
One of the stranger aspects of moviegoing is that it is at once a grand communal act and an intensely private experience. We gather together in dark rooms as if in secret churches, and when the crowd is right it can feel as if we’ve all been through something together...
by Jack Brown | Jan 8, 2018 | Articles, Cinemadope, Columns
As the father of three little kids, I’ve come to regard the entertainment world — especially television and movie fare — as an ever-shifting battlefront. I’m not interested in shutting them off from the experience, but figuring out how to make it both enjoyable and...