Cate Marquis

Darker CABARET is must-see at FOX – By Cate Marquis –   CABARET is one of the gems of musical theater, a musical that is not only filled with great music but with a story that has something to say beyond boy meets girl. Set in Berlin shortly before the Nazis take power, it is…

  – By Cate Marquis – In THE LAST WORD, Shirley MacLaine stars as Harriet Lauler, a successful, wealthy but not beloved retired businesswoman, who decides to write her own obituary prior to her death. To craft the perfect obit, she hires a young writer at the local newspaper, played by Amanda Seyfried, mostly for…

  – By Cate Marquis – At the beginning of TABLE 19, we see Anna Kendrick as Eloise struggling to decide whether to RSVP yes or no to a wedding invitation. She should have said no, and that might be the best advice for audiences thinking about seeing this film. Kendrick plays Eloise, the ex-maid…

Rep’s ALL MY SONS is Miller’s searing, must-see drama about post-WWII America and the American Dream   – By Cate Marquis –   We tend to think of post-World War II America in sunny, idyllic terms. The “greatest generation” defeated the Nazis, the GIs came home to settle down and start the baby boom, and…

– By Cate Marquis –   Ang Lee is a brilliant director but he seems to being aiming more at recapturing the technical innovation magic of his film PI than making a good film, in his latest BILLY LYNN’S LONG HALFTIME WALK, with less successful results. BILLY LYNN’S LONG HALFTIME WALK focuses on a decorated…

– By Cate Marquis – LOVING is wonderful, warmly romantic drama about the couple, Richard and Mildred Loving, whose Supreme Court case struck down laws that prevented interracial couples from marrying. Although the court case is part of the story, the film is really about the couple, Richard and Mildred Loving, childhood sweethearts whose deeply…

– By Cate Marquis –   Haunting, heartbreaking MOONLIGHT is the tale of an African American boy growing to manhood in a Florida housing project. That brief description will likely conjure all the wrong images and expectations for this delicate and brilliant film, which taps into universal elements of growing up while telling a specific…

– By Cate Marquis –   HACKSAW RIDGE tells the true story of Private Desmond Doss, a medic who won the Congressional Medal of Honor for saving 75 men on Okinawa during World War II. What sets this heroic story apart is that Doss was a pacifist who refused to even carry a gun, much…

– By Cate Marquis – Ben Affleck plays autistic math savant as action hero in thriller THE ACCOUNTANT Rating: 3 1/2 out of 5 stars   Ben Affleck plays an accountant with some special skills and special challenges in the mystery/action thriller THE ACCOUNTANT. Directed by Gavin O’Connor, what makes THE ACCOUNTANT different from other…

– By Cate Marquis – Curmudgeon delights in Swedish comedy A MAN CALLED OVE Rating: 4 out of 5 stars   In the Swedish dark comedy A MAN CALLED OVE, director/scriptwriter Hannes Holm takes us on a roller-coaster trip through the life of old curmudgeon. Ove (Rolf Lassgard) is the kind of guy every neighborhood…