Jun 11

Jun 11 Film Review – Does In the Heights Hit the Heights?

When audiences sat down in their seats at Broadway’s Richard Rodgers Theatre in the spring of 2008, many were not quite ready for the electrically-charged piece of musical theatre they were about to witness. The then relatively unknown team of Lin-Manuel Miranda (music and lyrics) and Quiara Alegria Hudes (book) delivered several jolts of adrenaline into the arm of the American musical, infusing the more traditional form of this theatrical storytelling with the contemporary sounds of hip-hop and rap, as well as crafting a bilingual score (English and Spanish) of poignancy and potency. Director Thomas Kail staged the musical with a palpable urgency and an emotional thrust that propelled the show through its climax, and choreographer Andy Blankenbuehler provided movement that seemed to defy gravity and lift the show off the stage floor and into the ether. The musical I am referring to is of course In the Heights which has made its transition from the stage to screen some thirteen-years since it’s Broadway berth, under the direction of Jon M. Chu (Crazy Rich Asians).

Jan 17

Jan 17 The Post: Film Review

Mark Robinson

Cinematters

In a time where our government is concerned with manipulating and misdirecting the media to create doubts and confusion, it is heartening to watch a film like The Post and know that newspapers in this country were once the bastions of truth, the essential element of checks and balances that held our leaders to higher standard. Director Steven Spielberg has captured in The Post a cautionary tale, one that reminds those who deliver our news that they have a solemn duty to get at the heart of every truth, so hold our leaders responsible for their egregious choices and behavior.

Jan 6

Jan 6 I, Tonya: Film Review

Mark Robinson

Cinematters

For those of us who lived through the 1990s, the Tonya Harding/Nancy Kerrigan debacle will forever be ensconced in our minds (along with the Amy Fisher/Joey Buttafuoco incident) as the beginnings of tabloid caliber events being treated as compelling news journalism. With the 1994 Olympics on the horizon, figure skaters Harding and Kerrigan were both vying for a position on the US Olympic team. On January 6 of that same year, Kerrigan was attacked by a man who struck her on the right knee with a baton (her landing leg for her on-ice stunts). The man was traced back to Jeff Gillooly, Harding’s on-again/off-again husband. The FBI became involved and the question was, “Did this plan to fell Kerrigan trace its way back to Harding?” The whole thing played out like a paternity test episode of Maury Povich.

Dec 28

Dec 28 The Greatest Showman: Film Review

Mark Robinson

Cinematters

The sixteen-year-old version of myself probably would have loved the film The Greatest Showman. It’s a movie musical that paints with broad strokes of emotion, sings with melodies of gloriously exhilarating repetition, and it celebrates the misfits of the world, making the idealistic assumption that if we just believe hard enough, the world will embrace us. On one level, it is a musical fantasy and should be enjoyed by anyone who can subscribe to such misguided optimism. On another level, the adult version of myself wants to slap the sixteen-year-old in me for being so naïve, so eager to embrace such folderal and humbug. But then, The Greatest Showman is based on the life of flim-flam man Phineas Taylor Barnum, the man who supposedly said, “There’s a sucker born every minute” (There is no evidence that he actually did), so buying into folderal is exactly what this tale is about. To a degree, I must admit that I bought into this film. Even if it isn’t perfect, its colorful world of humbug makes you feel good. It’s illusion instead of substance, but that can transport just as easily.

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