Dear Cinnamon: The Art of Trying Something New
Dear Cinnamon is a monthly column based on the idea that all of life’s questions can be answered by art, because, after all, art is the spice of life. To […]
Interview: Actor Ryan Destiny on Preparation and Expectations for The Fire Inside, Portraying Olympic Gold Medalist Claressa Shields
The new docudrama The Fire Inside tells the story of Claressa “T-Rex” Shields (Ryan Destiny), one of the greatest female boxers in history and the first female boxer to win […]
Essay: Todd Haynes’ Carol Is a Holiday Classic with Midwest Roots
Warning: This article contains spoilers for the film Carol (2015). Carol unfolds like a memory. The vision of 1950s America mutes and blurs the pastel colors we associate with the […]
Review: The Working Class of the Plant World, Weeds, by Nina Edwards
For eight months—September 1940 to May 1941—the German Luftwaffe conducted a ferocious bombing campaign over London and other British cities and towns. An estimated 40,000 civilians were killed and as […]
Review: Robert Eggers’ Nosferatu Is a Dark, Tension-Filled Journey into Violent Obsession
For those keeping score, Dracula was basically the entire reason I got into horror movies specifically and then into film in general. But that Dracula (the 1931 Universal version, starring […]
Review: Cinematographer Rachel Morrison Takes the Helm for The Fire Inside, From a Superb Script by Barry Jenkins
Celebrated cinematographer turned first-time director Rachel Morrison (Black Panther, Dope, and an Oscar nomination for her work on Mudbound) brings us the inspirational true story of female boxer Claressa Shields […]
Review: Timothée Chalamet Is Exceptional in A Complete Unknown About Bob Dylan’s Early Years
The title of the skillfully made Bob Dylan biopic, A Complete Unknown, is appropriate, because it traces the short road Dylan (Timothée Chalamet) took from traditional folk singer (performing mostly […]
Review: Music Theater Works’ Legally Blonde the Musical Features Standout Vocalists
It’s the top of the second act. Fans of the musical will recognize the familiar bop of “Whipped into Shape” start to play from the stellar orchestra. This is the […]
Toasts: New Year’s Eve Places to Be
You won’t see me at any of these places because I haven’t left the house on New Year’s Eve since 2010 and would like to keep that streak alive. But […]
Review: The Berlin Diaries at Open Space Arts Explores a Search for Family History in Pre-War Berlin
Playwright Andrea Stolowitz’s extended Jewish family lived in Berlin in the 1930s during the rise of the Nazi party; they emigrated to New York City in 1939. Stolowitz’s parents believed […]
Glögg and Carols at Simon’s Tavern
They come every year around this time, gathering at the long bar or huddling around the worn wooden tables. Many stand in the middle of the floor shoulder to shoulder […]
Review: Ghosts in the Shadow Box—Manual Cinema’s A Christmas Carol
Has there ever been a more frequently adapted story than Charles Dickens’ novella A Christmas Carol? From Reginald Owen and Alastair Sim down to George C. Scott, Albert Finney, Patrick […]