Adventures of a Mathematician begins with one Jewish scientist telling another an extended joke where a man questions a rabbi about whether sex is “work” or “pleasure.” The joke turns… Continue reading "Adventures of a Mathematician (Klein, 2021)"
I am apparently an outlier because I thought this was gloriously messy rather than just messy. It didn’t hurt that I saw it the same week as The Eyes of… Continue reading "Dear Evan Hansen (Chbosky, 2021)"
I spent most of my time watching The Eyes of Tammy Faye trying to convince myself that the film was better than I ultimately judged it to be. Why the… Continue reading "The Eyes of Tammy Faye (Showalter, 2021)"
The right side of my brain says that The Capote Tapes is the kind of biographical tease that is common in academia. The auteur finds (or has access to) new… Continue reading "The Capote Tapes (Burnough, 2019)"
I approached On Broadway expecting a yearbook approach highlighting the major shows that have shaped American theater in my lifetime. It does that, seamlessly moving from a Chorus Line to… Continue reading "On Broadway (Jacoby, 2019)"
As a teacher and a film journalist, I have often quoted a favorite childhood riddle that asked, “What is the similarity between an elephant and a plum?” The answer —… Continue reading "A Tale of Two Junkets"
Once Upon a Sea comes touted as “an extended reality” created by Adi Lavy. Virtual Reality videos are still new enough that we haven’t yet developed the critical language with… Continue reading "Once Upon a Sea (Lavy, 2021)"
I judge art documentaries by one of two standards. Does the film tell me something I don’t know about the subject? Is it entertaining or engaging in its own right,… Continue reading "Gustav Stickley: American Craftsman (Stratford, 2020)"
I don’t think you need to know Sophocles’s twenty-four hundred-year-old play to understand Sophie Desraspe’s very loose adaptation of it. You certainly don’t need to know it in order to… Continue reading "Antigone (Desraspe, 2019)"
Ask the average patron standing outside The Getty, The MoMa, or The Louvre to name the best artists of all time, and M.C. Escher probably wouldn’t be in the first… Continue reading "M.C. Escher: Journey to Infinity (Lutz, 2018)"
