Jonathan Swift

Latest Articles

Review: Gulliver's Travels

This travesty is so pitiful, it isn't even worth getting indignant over
Jonathan Swift's epitaph reads, "Where savage indignation can no longer lacerate his breast." Rob Letterman's adaptation of the great man's satire might nonetheless have him spinning in his grave.
By PETER KEOUGH | December 21, 2010

Music to incite the savage beast

‘My Way’ can kill you; Big money quashes ‘Big Money’; and a truly Soopah Bowl
Although your superior correspondents try to avoid situations where we have no alternative but to be totally annoying, there have been times when P+J have agreed to karaoke performances.
By PHILLIPE AND JORGE | February 10, 2010

Review: The Road

No country for all men: John Hillcoat doesn't stray from Cormac McCarthy's Road
John Hillcoat doesn't stray from Cormac McCarthy's Road For those who found the Coen Brothers' adaptation of Cormac McCarthy's No Country for Old Men too lighthearted, John Hillcoat's relentlessly faithful version of the author's post-apocalyptic Pulitzer-winning novel might hit the spot.
By PETER KEOUGH | November 24, 2009

Faux fi

Tune-Yards don't need to make a big production out of it
A few years ago, before Merrill Garbus was touring the world as Tune-Yards (she spells it tUnE-yArDs — but we're going to pretend we didn't know that), she was deep into puppets. Following her studies at Smith, the Connecticut native relocated to Putney, Vermont, to join the Sandglass Theater company.
By MICHAEL BRODEUR | November 16, 2009

Cursed films

"Le Film Maudit" at the HFA
At some point while watching the features in the Harvard Film Archive's "Le Film Maudit" ("cursed films") series — perhaps during the "Circle of Shit" chapter in Pier Paolo Pasolini's SALÒ, OR THE 120 DAYS OF SODOM — you might ask yourself, which is more cursed, the movies or anyone unfortunate enough to be watching them?
By PETER KEOUGH | July 17, 2009

Company man

War, Inc. cuts its losses
In at least one of its toss-away scenes, Joshua Seftel’s War, Inc. rises to the level of brutal bad taste that distinguishes master satirists from Jonathan Swift to Stanley Kubrick.
By PETER KEOUGH | June 11, 2008

It’s so different here

Savoring the challenges of spending all four college years abroad
Sometimes living and studying abroad can feel like running a marathon with a backpack full of bricks.
By MARY GARBODEN | January 18, 2008

Mission completed

The break-up of Mission of Burma
This article originally appeared in the January 18, 1983 issue of the Boston Phoenix.
By DOUG SIMMONS | January 17, 2008

State for sale

A modest proposal for Rhode Island prosperity (with apologies to Jonathan Swift)
Now is hardly the time for half-measures or conventional and narrow-minded thinking.
By IAN DONNIS | January 09, 2008

Dirty politics

Has the Right Wing hijacked raunch?
The last resort of the true patriot is a fart joke.
By PETER KEOUGH | October 27, 2008

Self help

JazzBoston boosts the scene with Jazz Week
In jazz, it’s always the iron age.
By JON GARELICK | April 18, 2007

Boston uber alles

This article originally appeared in the April 21, 1981 issue of the Boston Phoenix.
By DOUG SIMMONS | November 14, 2006

The A list

Letters to the Boston editor: November 10, 2006
Overall, a great list; impossible to do and make everyone happy.
By PHOENIX LETTERS | November 14, 2006

Ralph Hamilton

1946–2006
My lovable, impossible friend of more than 30 years, the artist Ralph Hamilton, died on February 19, of complications from diabetes. He was only 59. It’s a very sad loss. He was one of Boston’s most original and searching painters and had been doing some of his most ambitious and moving work.
By LLOYD SCHWARTZ | March 09, 2006