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Friday, January 12, 2018

Film Review: ‘Humor Me’ by Andrew M. Barker

Director Sam Hoffman is best known for his web series, “Old Jews Telling Jokes,” which he has already adapted into a book and an Off Broadway play. And in his feature film debut, “Humo…

SOURCE: Variety at 09:33PM

Friday, April 7, 2017

Film Review: ‘Speech & Debate’ by Andrew M. Barker

Adapted from Stephen Karam’s hit 2007 Off-Broadway play, Dan Harris’ film “Speech & Debate” unites three teenage outcasts who form their own speech and debate club in order to fi…

SOURCE: Variety at 01:53PM

Thursday, February 9, 2017

Original Song Nominees Bring Well-Known Newcomers Into the Oscar Fold by Andrew M. Barker

Academy music-branch members seem to agree that 2016 was an above-average year for songs and that this is an especially strong lineup. As with the score category, four of the five nominated …

SOURCE: Variety at 01:00PM

Wednesday, January 4, 2017

Oscar Eligibility Decisions Give Musical Scores a Shot by Andrew M. Barker

Oscar’s disqualification of the original scores for “Arrival” and “Manchester by the Sea” have been much-debated in the music community in recent weeks. What ha…

SOURCE: Variety at 03:31PM

Thursday, December 1, 2016

Unusual Musical Approaches Pay Dividends for ‘Moonlight,’ ‘Nocturnal Animals,’ ‘Lion’ by Andrew M. Barker

Sometimes an unexpected musical approach to a subject reaps dramatic dividends. Abel Korzeniowski’s music for “Nocturnal Animals” switches genres, scoring the psychological…

SOURCE: Variety at 01:00PM

‘Fantastic Beasts’ and ‘The BFG’ Tap Into Magical Musical Worlds by Andrew M. Barker

Magic, wizarding, giants, strange creatures — fantasy always needs music to help us suspend disbelief and imagine new worlds. This year, two of Hollywood’s most acclaimed compose…

SOURCE: Variety at 01:00PM

Friday, November 4, 2016

‘Moana’ Offers Lin-Manuel Miranda a Break From ‘Hamilton’ by Andrew M. Barker

During his entire run in “Hamilton,” actor-writer-composer Lin-Manuel Miranda wasn’t only thinking about political leaders in 18th-century America. His mind was also on islanders in th…

SOURCE: Variety at 01:00PM

Wednesday, July 13, 2016

Cirque’s Beatles-Themed ‘Love’ Gets a 10th Anniversary Makeover by Andrew M. Barker

“Love” — as the Beatles told us in 1967, it’s pretty much all you need. And over the past 10 years, through more than 4,500 performances of Cirque du Soleil’s Las Vegas show of the…

SOURCE: Variety at 02:12PM

Sunday, January 24, 2016

Sundance Film Review: ‘Newtown’ by Andrew M. Barker

“Newtown,” Kim A. Snyder’s documentary on the aftermath of the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School shootings, is not an explicitly political film.

SOURCE: Variety at 08:10PM

Sunday, June 15, 2014

Film Review: ‘Jersey Boys’ by Andrew M. Barker

Though based on a smash-hit jukebox tuner that won four Tonys, Clint Eastwood’s adaptation of “Jersey Boys” can’t properly be described as a full-on musical.

SOURCE: Variety at 05:00AM

Wednesday, April 30, 2014

Theater Director Jon Vickers Lures Legends to Indiana University Venue by Andrew M. Barker

When theater director Jon Vickers hopped on the phone with Variety, his single-screen cinema was in the middle of a typically diverse run. The night before, it had screened a brand new resto…

SOURCE: Variety at 01:00PM

Friday, November 1, 2013