Add last year’s The Autopsy of Jane Doe and Lights Out to the long list of excessively derivative, and thus increasingly tired horror movies that would be better suited for the stage.
Author: Steven Strauss
EVERYBODY (Signature): A BBJ Capsule
Like much of Branden Jacobs-Jenkins’ dizzyingly thought-provoking work (mostly for better but sometimes for worse; it makes writing about his plays in a focused manner consistently difficult, as the numerous seemingly dichotomous parentheses will attest), his Everybody – a contemporary…revival? adaptation? translation?…of Everyman that played at the Signature Theatre this season – intellectually operates on too many levels to comprehensively process in a solitary viewing. Unlike the declaratory way that such morality plays are often taught, Everybody post-modernly liberates and connects Everyman simultaneously from and to, respectively, its historical roots, allowing both plays to resonate with various audience members in as many different ways as there are different types of people in the crowd. Continue reading “EVERYBODY (Signature): A BBJ Capsule”
SELL/BUY/DATE (Mtc): Docu-Dramas; less of the former, more of the latter please
Anyone familiar with Sarah Jones probably knows her as an expert monologist, a performer capable of not merely playing but quite literally inhabiting various characters from ALL walks of life, regardless of age, race, ethnicity, gender, sexuality, or any of the other facets of personal identity.
Continue reading “SELL/BUY/DATE (Mtc): Docu-Dramas; less of the former, more of the latter please”
A Weekend in the Cinema: KONG: SKULL ISLAND (and more on LOGAN)
Kong: Skull Island shares traits with both of the last two weekends’ slates of releases: like Get Out two weeks ago, it’s basically the sole offering of interest this weekend; and like last weekend – but unlike Get Out, unfortunately – this lone offering did not offer moviegoers much of a reason to leave their houses to hit the local cinema.
Continue reading “A Weekend in the Cinema: KONG: SKULL ISLAND (and more on LOGAN)”
A Weekend in the Cinema: LOGAN; TABLE 19; BEFORE I FALL; THE SHACK (kind of)
For much of my life, I’ve made a concerted effort to see wide release movies in their opening weekends. Though rival studios only really focus on one element when choosing release dates – $$$$$ – unintentional connections can still be forced made between the flicks because most contemporaneous art tends to comment on shared factors intrinsic to the time and environment in which they’re produced. As such, I shall attempt to explore these ideas – BRIEFLY, I swear – every Monday through the lens of the weekend’s slate after having the opportunity to see them all (within reason). Due to their different release dates from city to city, independent films will be excluded from this series, which I’m dubbing “A Weekend in the Cinema” (STEPHEN SONDHEIM/A LITTLE NIGHT MUSIC REFERENCE ALERT!!!). Without further ado…
All three (or I guess four) of March 3rd’s wide releases suffer from flawed screenplays that fail to transcend the more artistically restrictive conventions of their chosen genres. Logan is the biggest and also probably the best, less a testament to its (disappointing) quality and more a reflection of the overwhelming turpitude of these offerings…
Continue reading “A Weekend in the Cinema: LOGAN; TABLE 19; BEFORE I FALL; THE SHACK (kind of)”
You Can’t Stop the Arts (Tweet-of-Consciousness)
As if I needed another reason to adore @HarveyFierstein – PREACH BROTHER: https://t.co/kZDCS7jfUJ
— Steven Strauss (@aintnohero) March 27, 2017
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THE PENITENT (Atlantic): Dude, Where’s My *Fucking* Mamet? (Tweet-of-Consciousness)
Maybe that’s why I’m the only one still in his corner…kinda. ANARCHIST + CHINA DOLL were bad, but can we exclusively blame his writing?
— Steven Strauss (@aintnohero) March 24, 2017
MAN FROM NEBRASKA (Second Stage): Rapturously Sculpting Our Rapture (Tweet-of-Consciousness)
Almost felt like a movie w/ short, non-dialogue driven scenes featuring a series of characters sharing intimate exchanges in many locales
— Steven Strauss (@aintnohero) March 23, 2017
Movie Roundup 3/3-22 (Tweet-of-Consciousness)
THIS WEEK’S LINEUP
Dying Laughing (Lloyd Stanton / Paul Toogood) / The Last Laugh (Ferne Pearlstein)
Catfight (Onur Turkel) / Fist Fight (Richie Keen)
The Girl with All the Gifts (Colm McCarthy)
I Am Michael (Justin Kelly)
The Last Word (Mark Pellington)
My Scientology Movie (John Dower)
Song to Song (Terrence Malick)
Wolves (Bart Freundlich)
Continue reading “Movie Roundup 3/3-22 (Tweet-of-Consciousness)”
The Broadway Season in Play Revivals (Tweet-of-Consciousness)
All 3 play revivals this Broadway season have squandered special casts with staid at best, paltry at worst direction
— Steven Strauss (@aintnohero) March 22, 2017
Continue reading “The Broadway Season in Play Revivals (Tweet-of-Consciousness)”
Write All Nite 