Cate Marquis
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
THE BEGUILED film review
– By Cate Marquis – Sophia Coppola’s atmospheric period thriller THE BEGUILED is a re-make of a 1971 psycho-sexual thriller starring Clint Eastwood. Coppola re-frames the Civil War story from a woman’s viewpoint, where a wounded Union soldier is taken in by a house full of Southern women and girls at a young ladies’ boarding…
BABY DRIVER film review – by Cate Marquis
Writer/director Edgar Wright (SHAUN OF THE DEAD) delivers the kind of summer movie you hope for – action-packed, light, with a bit of humor – in BABY DRIVER. Car chases and a non-stop jukebox music soundtrack help drive this highly entertaining flick, which shares its title with a Simon and Garfunkel song. This delightful summer…
MEGAN LEAVEY film review
– By Cate Marquis – MEGAN LEAVEY is a true story-based drama about young woman whose close bond with a dog changes both of their lives. Although the young woman is a Marine serving in Iraq and the dog is her bomb-sniffing teammate, this really is a touching dog story rather than a war story….