steve vineberg

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Curse and worse

The high point of Johnny Baseball , the new musical receiving its world premiere from the American Repertory Theater (at the Loeb Drama Center through June 27), comes two-thirds of the way through the second act.
Johnny Baseball is stuck in the minors
By STEVE VINEBERG | June 11, 2010

Salinger’s eternal cone of silence

With the death of J.D. Salinger, nearly every obituary featured some quote or reference to his American masterpiece, The Catcher In the Rye , and rightly so. If you don't know the name Holden Caulfield, you don't know ding about literature.
The death of a genius; rocking for Nicole; the General Assembly goes transparent
By PHILLIPE AND JORGE | February 05, 2010

J.D. Salinger: 1919 - 2010

J.D. Salinger was 91 when he died in his New Hampshire home on January 27, 45 years after he published his last known story, "Hapworth 16, 1924," in the New Yorker .
In Memoriam
By STEVE VINEBERG | February 05, 2010

The rules of his game

Given that every theater season seems to bring a new production of a Chekhov play, it's surprising that so few movies have been made of his dramas, or of his short stories. Or maybe not so surprising: Chekhov is perilously difficult for filmmakers.
'Celebrating Chekhov' at the Museum of Fine Arts
By STEVE VINEBERG | January 22, 2010

Eric Rohmer 1920 - 2010

No other filmmaker mined precisely the same territory as the French director Eric Rohmer, who died Monday at the age of 89.
In Memoriam
By STEVE VINEBERG | January 15, 2010

Prince of darkness

Gordon Willis, the master cinematographer to whom the Harvard Film Archive pays tribute in a seven-film retrospective beginning this Friday,
Gordon Willis at the Harvard Film Archive
By STEVE VINEBERG | November 20, 2009

Play by play: September 11, 2009

Boston's weekly theater schedule

By JEFFREY GANTZ | September 11, 2009

Monster man and more

James Whale's career as a purveyor of marvelous film entertainments was brief.
James Whale at the HFA
By STEVE VINEBERG | September 11, 2009

Sins of the play

The title of Israel Horovitz's Sins of the Mother (through September 13 at Gloucester Stage) is an ironic misnomer.
Israel Horovitz returns to Gloucester
By STEVE VINEBERG | September 04, 2009

Dark passage

The Production Code, Hollywood's notorious self-censorship program, was instituted by the Motion Picture Producers and Distributors of America in 1930, but it didn't go into effect till 1934, when it was administered by Joseph I. Breen.
Film noir and the Production Code at the MFA
By STEVE VINEBERG | May 29, 2009

Play by Play: April 24, 2009

Theater around town
Plays from A to Z
By CAROLYN CLAY | April 24, 2009

Play by play: April 3, 2009

Plays around town
Plays A to Z
By CAROLYN CLAY | April 01, 2009

Play by Play: March 27, 2009

A compilation of theater productions in and around Boston
Plays A to Z
By CAROLYN CLAY | March 24, 2009

Play by Play: February 6, 2009

A compilation of theater productions in and around Boston
Plays A through Z
By CAROLYN CLAY | February 03, 2009

Sweet smell of skill

Alexander Mackendrick, who's the subject of a tribute at the Harvard Film Archive this weekend, is a somewhat mysterious figure in movie history.
Alexander Mackendrick at the HFA
By STEVE VINEBERG | January 06, 2009

Tiger by the tail

The wild and woolly cinema of John Boorman
The wild and woolly cinema of John Boorman
By STEVE VINEBERG | November 18, 2008

Paul Newman (1925-2008)

Paul Newman, who died last weekend at the age of 83, was that rarest of creatures, a movie star who turned himself into a great actor.
Remembering a movie star who turned himself into a great actor
By STEVE VINEBERG | October 01, 2008

When men were men

Since Sam Peckinpah’s untimely death at the age of 59, he has acquired such legendary status that it’s startling to remember that he made only 14 films over a period of 22 years.
Sam Peckinpah at the Harvard Film Archive
By STEVE VINEBERG | September 03, 2008

The awful truth

Among the signal directors of 1930s comedies — one thinks of Frank Capra, Howard Hawks, Ernst Lubitsch, and George Cukor — Leo McCarey’s name has been largely forgotten.
Leo McCarey was better in the ’30s
By STEVE VINEBERG | June 02, 2008

American original

During the great American renaissance period in movies, Hollywood was in the hands of the counterculture.
Arthur Penn at the Harvard Film Archive
By STEVE VINEBERG | January 29, 2008

Wild boys and girls

The series includes some of the liveliest and most adult entertainment in the history of the movie industry.
‘Vice vs. Virtue’ at Harvard
By STEVE VINEBERG | January 15, 2008

Wild things

There is no more-enchanting Thanksgiving outing than the double bill of reissued Albert Lamorisse short films.
Lamorisse’s White Mane and Red Balloon
By STEVE VINEBERG | November 19, 2007

Teen spirit

The Williamstown Theatre Festival revival of Emlyn Williams’s The Corn Is Green marks the first time this play has been trotted out in years.
The Corn Is Green at Williamstown; Romeo and Juliet at the Publick
By STEVE VINEBERG | August 07, 2007

An Italian feast

A group of performers — especially one unified by gender and culture — is an unconventional focus for a film series.
‘Signore + Signore’ isn’t just about the ladies
By STEVE VINEBERG | August 07, 2007

Ingmar Bergman

Ingmar Bergman, who died Sunday, was one of the last of the great world filmmakers who came to fame around the mid century and changed the face of movies.
1918–2007
By STEVE VINEBERG | July 31, 2007

Counting Sheep

Lyrical, contemplative, with a clear disdain for mainstream Hollywood, the African-American filmmaker Charles Burnett has cobbled out an unorthodox career.
Charles Burnett at the MFA
By STEVE VINEBERG | June 05, 2007

Québec libre

The rise of the Quebec movie industry coincided with the awakening of French-Canadian cultural and political consciousness in the late ’60s.
Michel Brault and Claude Jutra at the HFA
By STEVE VINEBERG | March 20, 2007

Facing up

“ Facing off over Facebook ” contained some very valuable information about university administrators’ increased role in monitoring students’ online activities.
Letters to the Boston editor, March 9, 2007
By BOSTON PHOENIX LETTERS | March 07, 2007

Cross-purposes

Oliver Twist gets the Brecht treatment in Neil Bartlett’s new adaptation at American Repertory Theatre.
ART’s Oliver Twist , the New Rep’s Orson’s Shadow
By STEVE VINEBERG | March 01, 2007

The Russians are coming

With one exception, the eight movies in the nifty “Cold War Cinema” series at the Harvard Film Archive are popular entertainments that treat the politics and sociology of the era in a variety of ways.
Cold War cinema at the HFA
By STEVE VINEBERG | January 30, 2007

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