Cate Marquis

THE SQUARE film review

Ruben Ostlund’s Swedish satire THE SQUARE goes after art world, modern hypocrisy – By Cate Marquis –   Ruben Ostlund’s satire THE SQUARE was Cannes’ Palme D’Or winner this year but this ambitious film is a decidedly unusual winner. Ostlund’s previous film, FORCE MAJEURE, explored a single morally-bad choice in a caustically comic way. THE…

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THE BODYGUARD theater review

In THE BODYGUARD, cheese factor is high but Whitney fans won’t care – By Cate Marquis –   Whitney Houston fans can relive her biggest movie hit and thrill to her music in THE BODYGUARD, on stage at the Fabulous Fox theater, Oct. 3 – 15. The cheese factor is high in this show but…

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VICTORIA AND ABDUL film review

– By Cate Marquis – Director Stephen Frears’ funny, charming VICTORIA AND ABDUL was inspired by a real event late in the life of Queen Victoria, when the aging British monarch had her mood brighten by the arrival of a visitor from India, much to the dismay of her advisers and her son, the crown…

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I DO…UNTIL I DON’T film review

– By Cate Marquis – When divorce laws loosened and sexual mores changed in the ’60s and ’70s, there was a spate of “why marry” films. Although they had contemporary settings, the comedies generally followed the outline of 18th century bedroom farce, with warring couples, bed-hopping and true love winning in the end. Director/writer/star Lake…

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MENASHE film review

– By Cate Marquis –   MENASHE is a heartfelt Yiddish-language drama about a widowed Hasidic Jewish father man trying to regain custody of his son. Director Joshua Weinstein gives us an intriguing glimpse inside New York’s Hasidic community, although it is not always an affectionate one. Still, this is an excellent little film that…

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THE WOMEN’S BALCONY film review

– By Cate Marquis –   Charming and warm, the Israeli comedy “The Women’s Balcony” entertains but also captures an appealing feeling of community, and even family, that being part of a religious congregation can bring. It is no small feat. That sense of a close, happy congregation was inspired by screenwriter Shlomit Nehama’s own…

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13 MINUTES film review

– By Cate Marquis –   We all know there were attempts to assassinate Adolf Hitler in Germany late in World War II but what if he had been assassinated in November 1939? Think how history would have changed, particularly for Jews. Such as assassination attempt actually was made, by a lone man using a…

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LADY MACBETH film review

– By Cate Marquis –   Director William Oldroyd’s LADY MACBETH is not Shakespeare but it is certainly Shakespearean in its bloody mix of murder and sex. The story is not about Shakespeare’s murderously ambitious character but is based on a 19th century Russian novel, “Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District” by Nikolai Leskov, inspired…

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MAMMA MIA musical theater review

MAMMA MIA! gives long-running tour a fine send off at Fox – By Cate Marquis –   The spandex and ABBA’s ’70s pop songs take the stage one more time for Mamma Mia’s farewell tour, at the Fox Theater, July 28 – 30. The hit musical has been touring for 15 years, and even has…

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THE HERO film review

– By Cate Marquis – Sometimes one role can define an actor’s career. Sam Elliott plays such an actor in late life, facing his own mortality and coming to grips with his life and career, in the sometimes funny, sometimes touching drama THE HERO. THE HERO is an intimate personal drama that draws on universal…

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