by Jack Brown | Apr 15, 2019 | Articles, Cinemadope, Columns, Featured, Film
Spring in the Pioneer Valley always brings with it the sweet reminder of how lucky we are to be surrounded by so many working farms. Drive down just about any road that leads into or out of one of our bigger towns, and you’re sure to coast by a few coolers with “Fresh...
by Jack Brown | Apr 8, 2019 | Articles, Cinemadope, Columns, Featured
The tropes of the American Western have had a surprisingly wide influence. Its heady mix of self-sufficiency and violence, often presented as a necessary but natural manifestation of a hero’s morality, has spread like seeping blood into nearly every kind of popular...
by Jack Brown | Apr 2, 2019 | Articles, Cinemadope, Columns, Featured
Genre films are a bit like the snack food of the cinematic universe. Something of a guilty pleasure, often consumed late at night, and each with its own diehard fans. These are the films that almost never seek to be all things to all people, but instead deliver an...
by Jack Brown | Mar 26, 2019 | Articles, Cinemadope, Columns, Featured
With every March in the Valley comes a feeling of renewal — the Spring Bulb Show at Smith, that exquisite extra hour of daylight, a breeze that doesn’t slice through your very soul. And with that new sense of life comes the urge to get out and about, to emerge from...
by Jack Brown | Mar 18, 2019 | Articles, Cinemadope, Columns, Featured, Film
Despite its proximity to the more famous haunts of Northampton, Franklin County has always had its own lively arts scene. The Green River Festival, celebrating 33 years in 2019, is perhaps the most recognizable name, but other area venues like the Montague Bookmill,...