Meryl Streep

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Review: The Iron Lady

Streep's not enough to save this one
Meryl Streep's two films with Phyllida Lloyd, Mamma Mia and this silly biopic, demonstrate that even when the world's greatest actress is at the peak of her powers — whether dramatic, comic, or musical — it's not enough.
By PETER KEOUGH | January 10, 2012

By | January 01, 0001

Music for the love of it

From the Schemers to the Men of Great Courage, Mark Cutler’s songs have always gotten to ‘that special kind of place’
Whether driving his Men of Great Courage on a tune about a spooky midnight stroll, or gently declaring a deep camaraderie with “We Shall Always Remain Friends,” Cutler’s concocting a soundtrack to the feelings in the room.
By JIM MACNIE | May 05, 2010

Oscar predictions 2010: Locker is a lock

Bigelow, Bullock, and Bridges also will win gold
Except for some pipe-dream scenarios in which the 10-nominee/weighted-voting system could turn out a victory for Inglourious Basterds or some other dark horse, everyone concedes that this year's winner for Best Picture and just about every other significant award is — The Hurt Locker ! How did this happen?
By PETER KEOUGH | March 08, 2010

Hanging with The Hurt Locker

Oscars East
Whatever happens at that other film awards gala in Hollywood next month, The Hurt Locker solidified its hold on indie-minded critics this past weekend when it dominated the Boston Society of Film Critics (BSFC) third annual awards dinner. That film's star, Jeremy Renner, was on hand at the Brattle Theatre on Saturday night to accept his Best Actor award, which the BSFC announced back in December.
By TOM MEEK | February 10, 2010

Oscar predictions 2010

With 10 Best Picture noms, is Oscar up in the air? Our critic predicts.
After years of shrinking audiences and low-grossing Best Picture nominees, the Academy this year is hedging its bets.
By PETER KEOUGH | January 29, 2010

Review: It's Complicated

Indeed it is
It's complicated, and so are my feelings about Nancy Meyer's predictable and overlong boomer-bait rom-com.
By MIKE MILIARD | December 22, 2009

2009: The year in movies

Men behaving badly
As I looked over my list of the best movies of 2009, it suddenly struck me: where are all the women on screen?
By PETER KEOUGH | December 28, 2009

Review: Fantastic Mr. Fox

Welcome to the Dahl-house
In The Royal Tenenbaums and The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou, Wes Anderson excelled at telling adult stories with childlike whimsy. Telling children’s stories with adult whimsy is another matter.
By PETER KEOUGH | November 25, 2009

Revisiting the greatest Harvard-Yale game

Crimson Bowl Over Dept.
It takes some doing to make Harvard look like an underdog in anything. But Harvard Beats Yale, 29-29 — Kevin Rafferty's 2008 movie (out now on DVD) and new book (released this past month) about the famous football rivalry — does just that.
By MIKE MILIARD | November 18, 2009

Review: An Education

Carey Mulligan graduates with honors
Let’s get this right out of the way: Carey Mulligan is the real thing.
By BRETT MICHEL | October 15, 2009

Unfettered farce

Brown’s Tartuffe puts the roar in uproarious
Farce is designed for more than pleasant laughter and fingertips-to-palm applause. In celebration of that, an all-stops-out production of Molière’s Tartuffe is being staged at Brown University Theatre (through October 4), and it gets the audience to put the roar in uproarious.
By BILL RODRIGUEZ | October 20, 2009

Face off

Doubt explores the quicksand of certainty
If you were an ordinary Catholic boy in parochial school, giving nuns as hard a time as you were getting, you probably ended up with the usual stories of ruler-rapped knuckles. If you grew up to be talented playwright John Patrick Shanley, you ended up writing Doubt: A Parable , a fascinating exploration of the quicksand of certainty.
By BILL RODRIGUEZ | September 15, 2009

October lite

The outlook is still gloomy, but film finds time for childish things
We expected the vampires, the werewolves, the zombies, and the homicidal maniacs. Same thing with the android doubles, the alien abductors, the sexually abused pregnant teenager, the Apocalypse, and the post-Apocalypse. But kids' movies?
By PETER KEOUGH | September 17, 2009

Child's play

Ephron and Streep cook up a feast
Here's something I never thought I'd write: Nora Ephron has made one of the best movies of the year.
By PETER KEOUGH | August 10, 2009

Coolidge compliments Quays

Puppet Masters
If you don't know the films of the Quay Brothers, you don't know animation.
By GREG COOK | April 29, 2009

Review: Theater of War

Worth watching for Meryl Streep
John Walter had been immersed in Brecht for two decades, and he wanted to make a film about the great German poet/playwright.
By CAROLYN CLAY | March 24, 2009

Keough sweeps Oscars

Way better than average
Is our Phoenix film editor good, or what? This past week, Peter Keough predicted six major Oscar categories and earlier went out on a limb and called the two short-subject winners.
By CLIF GARBODEN | February 25, 2009

2009 Oscar predictions

Martyr complex
This year the Oscars will honor the men who suffer for our sins and the women who don't wear make-up.
By PETER KEOUGH | February 11, 2009

Review: Marley & Me

Banal entertainment
Will Jennifer Aniston ever get a good film role?
By BRETT MICHEL | December 23, 2008

Review: Doubt

Nun story
John Patrick Shanley's Doubt on screen
By CAROLYN CLAY | January 12, 2009

Wish-fulfillment for a burning world

The 2008 heroic holiday DVD and Blu-ray gift guide
From the shining big-screen debut of Iron Man to the large amounts of green produced by the Incredible Hulk, this was the year the public couldn't get enough of their favorite heroes.
By BRETT MICHEL | December 11, 2008

Harvard Beats Yale 29-29

Scores in nearly every department
Kevin Rafferty's 40th-anniversary documentary about the fabled Game of 1968 — when both teams were unbeaten and Harvard, after being completely outplayed by the 16th-ranked Elis, scored 16 points in the final 42 seconds to "win" — has no designs on being innovative: contemporary interviews with the players are intercut with slightly fuzzy but quite acceptable footage of the game.
By JEFFREY GANTZ | November 24, 2008